No beer and no cable make Homer go something, something...

This Monday I opened my email to a wondrus suprise!  Alvey at the Four Firkins invited me to a Belgian Beer tasting and education event in St. Louis Park.  It was a great, unexpected time and it renewed my love for great, different beers.  As some may know, my brother Dan has been becoming something of a beer-noisseur and has also been giving tours at St. Paul's best brewery, Summit.  So the last few years have been great for me, as Dan usually asks me to help him finish up his latest batch of brewery rejects (read: free beer).  It's also been educational as brewing is quite the artful craft.  We've all had bad beer (although, i've never turned it down) so learning how to make good beer is no small task.  After all, if it was easy it would destroy the big brewerys as their secrets would be less valuable.  So here's a few things I've learned lately - 

1) Belgian beers are very interesting.  Typically strong, not usually bitter and almost never hoppy.  They're also extremely tradition oriented, with many brewery's rarely changing things.

2) I love hops.  Not like, not enjoy, but LOVE.  There's something about those little, pungent plants that is like a drug.  Stuff like Surly's Furious is amazing.  Actually, it's furious.

3) Beer people are funny and often a tad snooty about beer.  Although, they're extremely open to showing you how to be snooty about beers, tell you about good beers, good brewerys, what they're saving, tasting and what beer they'll be drinking next.  Often they'll buy you one.  

4) Alcohol laws are silly.  Why?  Because people will always find a way around them, just like speeding or sneaking an extra cookie.  Why we can't buy beer on Sundays in Minnesota is goofy, especially when St. Paul is a 30 minute drive from Wisconsin, where you can.  Or why Surly can't sell growlers anymore (they brewed more than 3500 bbls. which under Minnesota state law 340A.301 prohibits their sale) makes no sense.  People demand the beer!

More to come, we're going to Madison for the weekend to celebrate good friends from Marquette, and with any luck I'll pick up some New Glarus brews.  I'm looking forward to it!