beer tasting......?

On saturday we went to the Dublin Irish Festival (in Dublin... ohio...). we saw this awesome band, Scythian. check them out, buy their albums, and go to their shows. very talented, very fun. they have quite an impressive resume, and they're all very talented. (made me wish i was in a band like that...one that's fun, and everyone can party to.... it'd be cool to see everyone dancing to my beats...) so anyway, they were good, and the festival was awesome (lots of cool shops, and consequently, lots of cool purchases (for my basement pub...when it's done)..and lots of ..people), and (and and and) LOTS of good beer (and LOTS of just... beer). one interesting thing that this festival had that caught my attention was a whiskey tasting (not really interested, b/c i'm not a whiskey fan), and a BEER tasting! so hell yeah, i was going to goto the beer tasting. i thought this would be awesome, and i'd get to try all these cool Irish beers, and have someone knowledgeable about beer talk about them, so i might actually learn something. so my Wife and i signed up for the last beer tasting of the night at 830 (the others were all full), and went on our merry way. 830 rolled around and were were in line early to get a good seating and excited about that tasting that was about to ensue..... however, i am an idiot. for whatever reason, it never crossed my mind (probably b/c i had more than my not so fair share of beer) that at an Irish festival, full of beer, full of people drinking lots of beer, going to a beer tasting at 830 at night might be a little.....crazy. however, that would be an understatement.... b/c these were drunk people who lived in Columbus.....which means they're ohio state fans....which means they're assholes. every 30 seconds or so some dumb ass would stand up and yell "o-h!" and all the other dumb asses (everybody else) would yell back "i-o!" (get it? it's spells o-h-i-o!! yay! spelling is fun!!!!!!!!! ) ...all the while the two people running the tasting were trying to talk about the beer (unsuccessfully....and were getting really annoyed) ..... and, instead of waiting to taste their beer (b/c the organizers were trying to do a legit tasting, look, smell, taste, etc...with small portions....that's the picture up there, my tasting), everyone would down it and want more.....and THEN some bagpipe and drum corp walked up and played the osu fight song, and led the stupid o-h cheer, and played more songs....and THEN the power for the pa system that the 2 people running the tasting were using (when they would attempt to talk to us about the beers) went out.....and overall...it was just a big drunken mess. in another context it would have just been good drunken fun...but when i was expecting a beer tasting, it was rather disappointing. i did get to talk to the guy running the tasting (the other person was a girl from Miller/Coors brewing, who supplied all the festival beer, including the Dublin Irish Stout, a festival exclusive), who was a fellow homebrewer. he gave me a good website to go to for homebrewing help, tips, etc. (the link's on the side).

so yeah, that was my sort of beer tasting. here's the beers we tried:

Peroni (the real title is Peroni, two italian words...which mean Peroni Blue Ribbon....sound familiar?....), which was a bavarian pilsner (a type of lager)

Leinenkugel's Sunset Wheat: a good summer ale. it's a Belgian Wit in style, but brewed with a lager yeast strain and a top-note of blueberry added (which means, it's a white wheat (it's cloudy), with Lots of citrus....you have to strain to taste the blueberry).

Blue Moon's Honey Moon: another good summer ale. this is another white wheat (as is blue moon), but with definite honey undertones and orange peel added for some good citrus. unlike traditional wheats, which are usually left unfiltered (makes it cloudy), this one is filtered, and then has some yeast added back, so that it looks cloudy. (kinda shady.....but tasty).

Leinenkugel's Berry Weis: take the sunset wheat, remove the citrus, and add... blackberries, elderberries (that's what your mother smells like), and loganberries (i love those!!!!!... no really, i have no idea what the hell those are). it's a very drinkable beer, but VERY berry. personally, i think they add the berries in the form of syrup...it's so sweet and berry.

Killian's Irish Red: a typical red beer. tastes grainy with a good balance of bitter.....look if you haven't tried this, you probably haven't had beer. if you don't want to spend a lot of money on a good beer, but still want something descent, get this. cheap, and not half bad. (way better than like, high life, or pbr, etc.)

Dublin Irish Stout: a typical stout (mostly). this one is only sold at the Dublin Irish festival (presumably b/c Miller/Coors has the exclusive beer rights, and thus, they cannot serve Guinness), and it pretty good. there's not much up front, kind of watery, but then you get a rich chocolatey flavor, followed by a good healthy bitterness. a very rich, smooth beer. (i thought this was pretty good, and was my drink of choice for the festival).

...oh yeah, heh.... there was this "sessions tent" where you could go with your instrument, and sit in a circle with a bunch of socially inept people who go to sci-fi conventions and stand in the hallway singing songs inspired by their favorite shows, books, movies, etc. (really some of the worst noise you'll ever hear...it's so bad you feel so uncomfortable just walking by them), and "jam" together. since it's an Irish festival, you play Irish music. we walked by that tent several times that day, and EVERY time we walked by, they were playing the exact SAME song! All day long! the SAME song! i didn't realize the Irish had only one song.....i guess you learn something every day......