My Questitude

pissed = drunk (not mad)
liBEERian = me

I have noticed a theme developing in my life over the last 2+ mths or so. The search for delicious ales, delivered to me either in full pint form or 4oz tasting glass, has officially BEGUN. I think Brewer's Fest 2010 officially started my slight obsession. Some people critique food, some people breakdown vino & it's many elements. For others... there is beer.

I started drinking beer about 6yrs ago. Started LIKING beer around 3-4yrs ago. All of my male friends and brother have a pretty diverse palate when it comes to ale and I was starting to feel a little left out, possibly uncool. So I made myself try new things (new @ that time =ed anything that wasn't Corona w/ lime wedge) and failed miserably. Beer was purdy gross. I resigned myself to loving the oh so palatable Blue Moon & the occasional Mac & Jacks Serengeti Wheat. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy both but my mind and mouth crave more. Sigh... what's new?

Beer exploration took an abrupt halt when I stopped most of my drinking (vino and mixed drinks consumed rarely, beer never) to pursue fitness and weight loss for a stint of 6mths. Still keeping fit and active but have slowly added tasty ales back into my diet. Stoked to hear this today, true or not: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3079028/Beer-can-help-you-get-slim.html.

Now that I have a few beer related festivals (along with the drunken bruises and fantastically fuzzy memories to prove it) under my belt, I have been fervently pursuing info from breweries around the nation, as well as local pubs for specific brews. The beer that got me started on such madness is Schooner Exact Brewing Co.'s Seamstress Union, a raspberry wheat ale. I had it for the 1st time at Brewer's Fest 2010, handed over my little wooden chip not knowing the magnitude of what was about to hit my mouth. I then proceeded to spend many more chips (my own and my date's) at their corner tent location. 4oz a pop is not enough to get my fill!

I spent the following weeks harassing the brewers @ Schooner Exact (who were kind enough to load me with info on the beer and where they had most recently delivered kegs in Tacoma) along with local pubs to find out where and when it was going on tap. Finally found it @ 1022 South in downtown Tacoma. Walking from work to my car @ 9p, I phoned Chris at 1022 to inquire on SU and I think he was as excited as I was over the ale "come on down!! we have it right here for ya". Met my partner in crime, Cole, for a pint. It was a mutual consensus that it was a) amazing and b) just as good if not better than we remembered. I felt fairly relieved that I hadn't built it's amazingness up in my head. Even though I will submit, I am fairly enamored with Seamstress Union. NOTE TO SCHOONER EXACT... take it off seasonal, make it year round!! Still planning on marching my charms down to the SE tasting room in Seattle to talk them into this.

Some of us require Seamstress Union year round. I was told specifically "I don't want to be around you when SU isn't available any longer". Hahahaha, enuff said. ;)

Ale related goals and the Essential point of this BuhLog:
-not planning on writing such a novel every time, this is just a small peak for you into my plight. Straight to business from here on out.
-review beers I've tried
-review pubs & breweries where I have sought out these libations (current fave: Parkway Tavern)
-find cool suppliers of eclectic bottled brew (current best a tie between 99 Bottles and Whole Foods)
-report on the many random occurrences that tend to happen while consuming the good brew (free age related beer & leaving SIB w/ 2x as many glasses as we started with)
-learn to love IPA (it is a type of brew that seems to have the most variety available and the coolest names, I think I can make it happen. I am single minded to a fault when there is something I want.)

See ya on the other side...
pissed liBEERian
aka Tracy
aka 5 Thousand other aliases