beer tasting party

hey friends!  hope you have had as awesome of a long holiday weekend as i have!  we decided to welcome in fall with a beer tasting party with some friends on saturday - and it turned out awesome.  pi had the awesome idea to make it like a wine tasting.  he told a bit about each beer we drank, poured it for people in tasting glasses, and we all tasted together and rated our favorite beers.  it was a brilliant idea and it worked out great.

of course i just loved hanging out with friends, the long weekend, and getting ready for fall - our favorite season.  the prep was pretty easy, it was just difficult to narrow down the beer we wanted to try.  for food, we put out some classed-up versions of classic beer food.  fresh pretzel rolls, three mustards for dipping, roasted turkey and honey glazed ham slices, jalapeno kettle chips, malt and vinegar kettle chips, smoked cheddar and gouda cheeses, and grilled bratwurst with fresh sourdough.

table setup

wheat, oats and a vinage seltzer bottle

the sunflowers in a german beer mug were perfect

tasting in full swing

two of our favorite people ever to hang out with

looking stuff up on her phone between tastings

j & r

josh & pi

starburst taste testing - do they all taste the same?

even brew made an appearance!

love this face :)

yes, we drank a LOT.

just for kicks, here was the menu:

beer

paragon dry dock apricot blonde

fuller smith ESB

avery the kaiser octoberfest

o'dell levity amber ale

samuel smith's oatmeal stout

elysian avatar jasmine IPA

he'brew rye double IPA

rogue chocolate stout

my favorite was definitely the jasmine IPA - i am obsessed with both of those things and it tasted like a flower explosion in my mouth.  i picked the he'brew beer because i had been wanting to try it for a long time, and i was glad i finally did.  everyone brought their own picks too, so there was much more sampling long after our samplers were gone.  

yesterday we had w stay the night so we slept in and then went to see the bourne legacy.  jeremy renner movies are kind of a tradition with us, as w & i are both lusting over him currently.  and we saw him in the new mission impossible on new year's eve last year and decided we love him.

today it's all about going to the market and getting out fall clothes!  the 70s are finally in sight and i couldn't be more excited.  oh, and i guess some homework too :)

til next time! 

lovely, lovely weekend.

just wanted to share a photo so you could understand how excited this weekend made me.

like i said, two of my favorite people on earth came to visit us last weekend.  my cousin E & her husband P came from queens.  it was a glorious three and a half days off of work and we just had an amazing time.  some photos to follow...

what can i say, P  & philip kind of love each other

it's not a vacation without a stop at the tap room!

double IPA, seasonal, raspberry ale

drinking, walking to a comedy show, what's not to love?

red square, 2am.  enough said.

roomie clarence made a new best friend! 

so did miss E :)  anamana! 

easter family pic :)

me & PI, hair thanks to pinterest!

love love love

growing up, my cousin E and i were complete opposites.  and i don't even mean that figuratively, i mean that if i loved something she HATED it.  but now that we are older, we both discovered that we had a ton of things in common over the weekend.  our home decorating style is the same - the couch she just bought is practically identical to mine.  it was such a great time and it meant the world to philip and i that they visited us.  

but the flip side is now it is totally crunch time!  just a few more weeks of school left - through the first week of may - and then i'm done.  i had a mild panic attack today as i registered for my last semester of college (fall 2012).  all the classes that i need are available and i am registered for, which is insane... but that means it's all really happening, really falling into place.  it seems like just yesterday i was contemplating even going back to school in the first place.  

that makes me happy :) 

til next time (which might be may... ugh...)

xoxo

the 10 best of [f]all

yes friends, that's right... it's finally time for fall.  i know it's october, but tomorrow is the day according to the forecasters that it is finally dipping into the 70s, and only getting cooler for there.  it seems like it was just yesterday we were posting about the beauty of spring and summer.  but alas, it's time for autumn.  you know, cool weather, down comforters, IPAs, hats, school work... it's the best time of year.  my favorite season, which could explain why we just celebrated our three-year wedding anniversary during this most beautiful time in colorado :)  but that's just one of the many great things of fall - below are the rest of my favorites.

what are you favorite things about fall?

oh yeah. avs baby.

10.  start of hockey season

it's possibly the best day of the year - the day of the avalanche hope opener.  the day when the air smells just right, the beer is at the perfect temperature, the fans are riled up, the opening video is new and still looks cool, and you have just the right of optimism to think in that moment before the puck drops that this really could be your year.  it's fantastic.  we usually go to every opening night, but this year we will be in LA, missing peter the great's retirement ceremony.  but that won't make the day any less fantastic.

scarf + hat. you can't see it but i have boots on too.

9.  sweaters/boots/scarves/hats

you could say i'm a little obsessed with scarves.  a few years back i even had a bunch of thin scarves i would wear in the summer a la jennifer aniston in along came polly (side note: guess who is in that? PSH.).  seriously.  now i wait until september to break them out - but between september and may a day won't pass where i won't be adorned with a hat or a scarf.  and boots.  i could write poems about how much i love boots... but i will leave it at this little paragraph here.  a good pair of boots makes my month.  my old faithfuls are the black patent leather marc jacobs flat boots i snagged before moving to prague.  best purchase ever.

8.  fall seasonal beers

you could say i like beer.  after reading this blog though, you might think i am obsessed with beer.  but the octoberfests and fall seasonals that come out are just about one of the best parts of fall.  especially when i can enjoy it after finishing homework, sitting outside in my backyard with philip while the leaves fall around us.  perfection.

a lovely colorado weekend

hey all!  hope it was a festive (& safe!) independence day weekend for you.  it was a hot and eventful one here - my awesome mother-in-law was visiting from california.  it's shaping up to be almost like a tradition; she drove out last year for the same holiday weekend.  it was a good time for me to reflect on some serious before-and-after since she hadn't seen the house for a year.  we had no backyard, nothing hung on the walls, a disaster area of an office, an old doodie shower with moldy tile and a library that was never used.  what progress we've made.  it was the perfect time to not work on the house but finally enjoy it :)

but let's get to it.  i want to fill you all in on our weekend!  it was a celebration of the great state of colorado, i tell you!  friday night we started with some good friday-night-mexican, a tradition around our parts.  margaritas, guacamole and crab enchiladas... mmm!  saturday morning we slept in as late as my non-air-conditioned house would let us and set off on some brewery tours!

first stop: oskar blues, where we had some good southern food and a tasting of their brews.  i've never been a huge fan, so i was pleasantly surprised to love four out of the five microbrews i tasted.

the original taster

southern food and good beer - what could be better on the 4th?

 next stop: new belgium.  unfortunately, this was not my favorite part of the day.  on a day-to-day basis new belgium isn't even my favorite - enough with the fat tire!  there are better local ambers out there.  i mean, we were still at a brewery drinking FREE beer, so still not a bad stop.  but it was too hot, too crowded, nowhere to sit and the selection was a bit disappointing.  usually when you go to these breweries you are treated with beer that you can't buy in the stores - but not at new belgium.  we had free glasses of ranger IPA, somersault, abbey and headed to our next stop.

half the taps at new belgium

i so want one of these!

 last stop on the brewery tour: o'dell.  definitely, without doubt, the best part of the day.  o'dell is one of my favorite beers and they did not disappoint.  first of all, their building is awesome looking.  and when we walked in we were greeted with lots of table room, air conditioning and speakers playing iron & wine.  i quite literally never wanted to leave.  my mother-in-law had a sampler while philip and i opted for some fancier brews - myrcenary, st lupulin, double pilsner, wooden elephant and helles bock.  it was awesome and i can't wait to go back - so take note, whoever visits me next!

classic sampler (levity, the 2nd on the left, is the best one!)

perfection.

patrizia and philip enjoying cold brews

me in front of o'dell - my mother's maiden name! 

 after our day long drinking extravaganza, we made our dinner reservations at the highlands coral room, followed by cocktails at a cote - where i found yet ANOTHER fantastic grapefruit concoction!  rose champagne, vodka and grapefruit juice.  two of those and it was the perfect icing on my cake. for those who haven't been to a cote but love this type of ambiance - GO!  now!  sunday we rode bikes around sloan's lake and highlands, shopped around highlands and stopped for fish & chips.  and for yet another perfect evening, we headed to city park for city park jazz.  three and a half hours of total relaxation.

busy scene @ CPJ!

my love :)

the three weekenders (and my fave organic ale in the front!)

 but the weekend wouldn't be complete without a stop at LITTLE MAN ice cream, which we all love for it's namesake our little man :)

all in all, a pretty perfect long weekend :)