Just a night at Papago

What a great time yesterday afternoon was. Of course, Thursday was Hopapalooza and that was a lot of fun, but Friday afternoon was very enjoyable. Met several folks at Papago to sample a bunch of different beers and turn them on to what exists out in the world that isn't from a big brewery.

We sat at the table under the TV and just kept opening bottles, nothing particularly fancy, just 12 bottles or so of what a typical craft beer drinker might consider everyday beers. Not that Avery White Rascal, Breckenridge Agave Wheat, Ska Pinstripe, Anderson Valley Boont Amber and the rest are everyday beers, but they fall in to what I call "Tuesday Night Beers". You know what I mean, the beer that you always know is going to taste great, and you know so well that you can come home, pull it out of the fridge, and just relax while you watch TV or do the bills or make dinner, or whatever it is you do when you get home on a Tuesday. Beers that you don't have to think about.

Now Tuesday Night Beers are different from the weekend beers, the ones that you have been thinking about all week, and just want to sit on the porch and watch the sunset while you admire how well put together it is, and find all the nuances in the beer. Or a beer that you are waiting to pair with your favorite food, maybe a nice IPA with a favorite Thai dish, or whatever turns you on. Of course, Tuesday Night Beers can easily be weekend beers if you desire; and everybody's Tuesday Night Beers differ. For some it might be Coors Light or Corona or Heineken. For others its something a little craftier.

Any way, that's my concept of Tuesday Night Beers, maybe some other time I can expound on that (lucky you). But the point of my post was to tell you how nice just sitting around sampling beers with other people can be, especially if you are getting them excited about craft beers. The other great part was that we slowly worked our way up the flavor ladder and ended up with some Port Wipeout, which were were fortunate to have Matt Wells from Port and The Lost Abbey at another table. Matt and his friend Ryan came over and gave us some great background on Wipeout, as well as some discussion on the brewery in general. After a Tripel Karmeliet, Matt brought over the remainder of his bottle of Angel's Share (2008 Brandy Barrel Aged) and we talked about this big beer and all had a small sample...it was outstanding. We wrapped up with some Avery Brabant, and a bottle of Mikeller Beer Geek Brunch Weasel, which gave Ryan an opportunity to tell us all about the Kopi Luwak coffee that is used in making this fine beer. If you are not familiar with Kopi Luwak, I suggest you try the beer and then find out how the coffee is made.

By the way, I have noticed that every time I mention Port or Lost Abbey in a post, it shows up on the Lost Abbey website under Blogosphere. I find this fascinating, so I intend to find a way to squeeze that brewery in to every post as I know that they have more people visiting their web site than read this blog. I may get to be famous yet.