The Fourth of July and that little three-week jaunt around Frogland are nearly upon us, and strong drink is a must, if only to endure the faux patriotic blather from both right and left and the endless keening of LANCE LANCE LANCE from the cretins in the media. This last is certain to be especially irksome since Big Tex has announced (via Twitter, of course) that the 2010 edition will be his final Tour.
But back to important stuff, like booze. We’ve been deep into the rosés for a while now here at Dog Central, and since I don’t recall whether I passed along Eric Asimov’s paean to this oft-derided beverage and am too lazy to search the site for it, I’ll chuck in a link to his June 6 Wines of the Times column.
But the Fourth means beer to the average Yank — and so does the Tour, to the average Belgian — so here’s a link to Asimov’s latest Beers of the Times column, which takes up the American pale ale.
I was surprised to see the Flying Dog Doggie Style Classic Pale Ale take top honors from his tasting panel. I used to drink it in some quantity come summertime, in part because of its Ralph Steadman label, but lost interest after encountering hoppier beers, like Lagunitas IPA. Even the much-lighter Mirror Pond Pale Ale (a summertime fave of mine) seems a step up from Doggie Style. But it’s been a while, so maybe it’s time to revisit an old friend.
Asimov’s fondness for Dale’s Pale Ale continues to mystify. Maybe I just got a bad 12-pack that one time, when I was camping in a place that forbade glass, but I’ve come to believe that the best thing about Dale’s is that after you’re done drinking it, you can shoot at the cans.
Mad Blog Media 
Been drinking this stuff lately.
http://www.newbelgium.com/beer/skinny-dip
My vote goes to Des Chutes’ Inversion IPA.
Save your money as you will be contributing to the Geeks bike fund. Thanks for nothing!
K, I haven’t tried the Skinny Dip yet — not a big fan of the New Belgium beers, though I do appreciate their bicycle fetish.
John, I like the Inversion, and the Green Lakes Organic Ale is also drinkable. The first time I tried it I wasn’t impressed, but it tasted mighty fine after riding 50 miles from Tucson to Patagonia back in March.
O’Neill, you bog-trotting tosspot,
You should give that purty little thing everything she wants or even dreams of, considering that she has to share a bed with a drink-sodden Mick who’s hung like a hummingbird.
Hm. Come to think of it, that advice could apply to me as well. Never mind.
Alaskan Summer Ale is also a nice summer beer. So is the Mirror pond.
Yer (Colorado) NewBelgium has hit a grandslammy with their RANGER ipa–best thing they’ve brewn, we just put 10 gallons of an Arrogant Bastard Clone in the primary–ready in late July, Patrick–just ran into a White Lightning ad in a dusty DirtRag circa ’96 witha certain Mud Stud as spokespimp–awesome! Bein’ a potato-eater you may be interested in Rogue’s Dead Guy Whiskey–distilled w/Dead Guy Ale. Cheers!
Maybe its just laziness, but I like a lighter beer when I get home from work and get off the bike in a sweat. Marble Brewery in Albuquerque http://www.marblebrewery.com/ puts out some nice beers too and I like their Red Ale, but its too sharp for me to swill down as a form of re-hydration after the schlep home from the Bomb Factory.
When my brother was visiting, we drove up to Ft Collins and popped into the Odells and New Belgium plants. Big mistake, starting with Odells and then going to NB, because after the heartier Odell’s fare, the NB offerings all tasted like Charlie Brown’s sister had dipped a yellow crayon in a pint of slightly chilled water. (Okay, that was funnier in my head than it came out in print … guessing no one else remembers the Peanuts cartoon with the weak hot chocolate? “Needs another brown crayon.”)
I look for general recommendations on grapes and hops and basic geographic locations, but after that, it’s all too personal to put too much stock in anyone’s particular recommendation. I love Dale’s Pale Ale … just love it … but I tried making a batch of barracho beans with it, and was pretty sure I had grabbed a can of shingle tar by mistake. Oskar Blues makes some interesting heavy hitters, like their Ten Fidy, but you gotta be in the mood for them. Ted Fidy and Old Chub are great winter time, sitting by the fire beers, but I haven’t been able to make them work with a meal. And if you buy me a Little Yella Pils, I’ll take it and thank you profusely, but I’m not going to pay $10 a six for it.
Sampled NB’s Ranger, thought it was good enough to warrant trying a entire six, and despite my misgivings with the label as a whole, have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed it. But it’s not an IPA. Might say so on the label, but then again, Budweiser claims to be beer on their label as well. But IPA or not, I still like the Ranger, and I guess that’s all that matters.
Funny … I wouldn’t use Bud Light Lime (GEN McChrystal’s favorite, which is exactly where I stopped reading the RS article, having learned all I needed to about the man) to put out a camp fire, and yet, this summer, I’m drinking a lot of Avery’s White Rascal, yet another Belgian white wheat ale with coriander and orange peel. Like the world needs another coriander and orange peel – scented white ale … and yet, just hits the spot when you’re standing in front of the Weber. For me. If it’s not your thing, then good for both of us, because we won’t be fighting for the last one.
Must say, chapeau to our esteemed host. Never would have tried rosé without Patrick’s recommendation. Now, can’t imagine summer without it.
But here’s a real sign of evolution and the potential salvation of the human species: the opening paragraph here was all about Lance, and yet all we want to take about it beer and wine. Maybe we can pay off Charles and Hoodie to spent equal portions of the Live Update divided between bike racing and cultural excursions?
Cheers.
Rose wines get a bad rap in the USA, probably courtesy of the awful “white zinfandels” and other plonk marketed to folks who don’t really like wine but for some reason think they should drink it instead of their usual soda pop. Here in Italy we try to start a lot of meals with a dry rose if they have one on the list, before moving on to the “serious” red wines. Last night we enjoyed an excellent Lagrein blend with dinner (no rose on their list) and today at lunch a very nice pinot nero. We’re in Cortina now, so who knows what our choice of ristorante will have for us in the “local” category? We’re too high up for riding through vineyards on this Legendary Climbs of the Giro tour but we try to sample wines from the local regions nonetheless. Have fun wrestling with the balky electrons Patrick and Happy Independance day to those in the US of A!