Sunday, June 13, 2010

SUMMER IN A BOTTLE, MILES IN MY LEGS, CHICKENS IN PEPE'S BACKYARD


yesterday morning i jogged 2.5 miles. woke up at 6:30 (on a saturday, no less), left the house at 7:20 (had to work a few things out first), and jogged over to marky-mark pepe-guzman's house. pepe keeps chickens. has a brood of them in this fancy little 5 star hen resort on the side of his house. i told pepe i'd let the chickens out of their roost in the mornings. that's why i jogged over there yesterday, to let the chickens out. they chattered their hen-pecked gratefulness in little circles around my feet.

i'm making a big deal about this jogging thing because it's the first time i've done anything of the sort in nearly 2 years. so 2.5 miles, straight out of the coop, made me feel pretty good. what did not make me feel pretty good was the 150% humidity levels at 7:50 AM. i sweated two gallons of hamsterian salt-waters before breakfast. i don't fancy mornings that feel like afternoons or sunrises that blister with the same needle-flecked boiling dusk breeze as sunset. and, Lord knows, south texas produces summers as infamously brow-melting as those in north mexico.

go figure.

so praise Christ for cold beer! and praise Christ for this blessed season of light, crisp summer ales hitting shelves just in time for my sweat-soaked post-jog breakfast!

and, as an extra praise Christ, i think i have just found this year's #1 summer beer: Widmer Brothers Sunburn Summer Brew.

there are several things i like about this beer. hazy bright orangish-yellow sunlight bends through a constant ascension of halo-lacing hallelujah bubbles. the aroma is soft and haylike, reminiscent of a german kolsch, though with a bit less grass and a bit more blonde ale citrus. the citrus forwardness of the aroma ebbs on the tongue, revealing a malty sweetness that never drags thick in the mouthfeel or the aftertaste, keeping a crisp focus on hops and a subtle off-stage, alcove present fruitness. also, a low ABV (4.3%) means that sunburn is a safe kicker-backer lawnchair ale comparable with real ale's fireman's #4 blonde ale, one of my top three favorite texas beers.

Widmer Brothers Sunburn Summer Brew is a great blonde-ish ale for all us outdoor athletes on these blazing summer days, especially when you want a wee more flavor than Pabst or Miller Lite have to offer. not to mention, finding Widmer's Sunburn was rather redeeming after the tragedy of their Deadlift Imperial IPA. let a brother know what you think.

ps. i wore homemade jorts and listened to Queens of the Stone Age while writing this review.

3 comments:

  1. have you ever eaten less because you know your caloric intake of beer is going to be large? i do that sometimes...is that a diet? i mean, i'm eating less food. is it a disorder? or is it perfect logic? i'll hunt down the sunburn.

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  2. Yeah, I do that. I even chug an extra nalgene of water during the day if I know my intake of beer is going to be large.
    I call it "strategry".

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