Thursday, November 6, 2008

'Tis the Season

The Express Ship to Blackout Island has returned. Last night, I had my first taste of this year's batch of Great Lakes Christmas Ale. I must say, it's a fine crop!

It is much better than last year's edition, which I found it to taste too much of alcohol, overwhelmingly sweet, and brought upon the mid-sip hangover a bit too roughly. This conundrum soon led me to abandon the Christmas Ale in favor of Brooklyn's Black Chocolate Stout (another fine seasonal, which I've already sampled this year to my delight).

This year, however, the Christmas Ale is much smoother, with a much more subtle sweetness. I have yet to thoroughly test its intoxicating capabilities, as I limited myself to half my usual quota. Regardless, the potent elixir eased me into gentle numbness before I slipped off to Never Ever Land. This morning was met with no residual effect whatsoever. The Viper approves.

Foxy Lady
Some people like to run with animals on a leash. Others like to run with animals clamped to their arms.

An Arizona woman encountered a fox while running on a trail near Prescott, Ariz., as reported by the San Francisco Chronicle. The fox bit the woman on the foot and then went for the woman's leg. She grabbed the fox, and it bit her arm. No big deal. She then finished her run with the fox still affixed to her arm.

When she got back to her car, she pried the fox off her arm and tossed it in the trunk and took it be tested for rabies, which it apparently had because the woman and an animal control officer, who was also attacked, were inoculated against the virus.

[Drunkard's note: I totally snagged this story from With Leather. And Nitmos also scooped me on the story. So much for that journalism degree.]

Look at Me!
The Booze Hounds Running Team made another appearance at Running Is Funny. You should click the link so you can get linked back here because, clearly, running is funny because of me.

11 comments:

C said...

Honest question here--it's possible for an alcoholic beverage to taste too much of alcohol, even to a boozer such as yourself?

Hm, learn something new every day.

B. Kramer said...

With beer, yes, I think so.

Marcy said...

You also fail to mention that Vanilla is on there too. Totally stole your thunder. Sorry :P

Anonymous said...

It's that most wonderful time of the year... Holiday beer season. I picked up Celebration, Winter Warmer, and Winter Hook today. All I need now from my top 5 is Anchor Christmas and Brooklyn's Chocolate Stout. That's only a start though... Last year we ended up with 22 different holiday beers. Yumm!

Oh, and enjoyed your running is funny article. Sorry, beer talk is to me what a shiny object is to a raccoon. I get distracted...

Sun Runner said...

I hadn't looked at anything beyond the Christmas Ale label and as soon as I saw that italic Garamond font I thought, "That looks like a Great Lakes Brewing label."

Yes, that does mean I know the names of fonts on sight. How much more of a dork could I be?

So did you skip over the plethora of pumpkin spice ales crowding shelves at this time of year? It takes a special dedication to bypass Thanksgiving and go straight for Christmas.

And: Black Chocolate Stout? OMG, it sounds like an orgasm in a pint glass. Sign me up.

Glaven Q. Heisenberg said...

Re: Alcohol taste in beer, I agree. It can taste too much of it. But one of the signs of a really well-brewed beer, to me, is it can be quite high in alcohol content, but not taste alcohol-y.

e.g.

Sarah, not to brag, but some of us have orgasms that could fill an IMPERIAL pint glass, even on a BAD day. Just sayin.

Nitmos said...

If a fox becomes the new cool runner's accessory, that's one trend I'm going to skip. Unless it also has GPS capabilities then...maybe.

Ian said...

Thanks Marcy, also, I'm mentioned before Viper is. So there.

Glaven Q. Heisenberg said...

It occurs to me that if someone disagreed with your contention that "'Tis the Season", he'd express that disagreement most succinctly thus:

'Taint.

It's always secretly about the taint with you, isn't it?

Ms. V. said...

*taste too much of alcohol*

I don't understand this phrase. Hello?

Jess said...

I hate it when seasonal ales have too much sweet to them. Blech. If I want sweet, I'll drink a wine cooler.