Wrap up post #1 for 2014

It's been a long busy year and I have not kept up the blog even remotely as well as I should be.  I'll have a couple wrap up posts, starting with beer.

1431. New Belgium - Tour de Fall
1432. Sierra Nevada/Asheville Brewers Alliance - Tater Ridge
1433. Chimay - White (Cinq Cents) 
1434. Boulder Beer - Shake Chocolate Porter - This is awesomely good.  I need to try a suggestion of blending this with a Founders Rubaeus (raspberry wheat) to make a raspberry chocolate shake. 
1435. Lexington Brewing - Kentucky Pumpkin Barrel Ale
1436. Shipyard Brewing - Pumpkinhead Ale
1437. Epic Brewing/DC Brau - Fermentation Without Representation
1438. LoverBeer - BeerBara - Sour beer made with Barbera grapes; this is really nice and very interesting.  
1439. Allagash Brewing - Saison
1440. The Duck-Rabbit Craft Brewery - Märzen
1441. Brooklyn Brewery - Oktoberfest
1442. Anderson Valley Brewing - Barney Flats Oatmeal Stout
1443. Rogue Brewing - Mocha Porter
1444. Sierra Nevada - Bigfoot
1445. Hacker-Pschorr - Oktoberfest Märzen
1446. Saint Louis Brewery - Schalfly Oktoberfest
1447. Left Hand Brewing - Oktoberfest
1448. Nebraska Brewing Company - EOS Hefeweizen
1449. Long Trail Brewery - Long Trail Ale
1450. Three Brothers Brewing - Fairgrounds Fall Ale
1451. R.J. Rockers Brewing- Bell Ringer Ale
1452. Soaring Ridge Craft Brewers - Tinker Creek Kölsch
1453. Soaring Ridge Craft Brewers - White Top White Ale
1454. Soaring Ridge Craft Brewers - Oktoberfest
1455. Soaring Ridge Craft Brewers - Saison
1456. Soaring Ridge Craft Brewers - Virginia Creeper Pale Ale
1457. Soaring Ridge Craft Brewers - Switchback IPA
1458. Soaring Ridge Craft Brewers - Trailhead Nut Brown Ale
1459. Soaring Ridge Craft Brewers - Twisted Stump Porter
1460. Highland Brewing - Clawhammer Oktoberfest
1461. The Duck-Rabbit Craft Brewery - Brown Ale
1462. The Duck-Rabbit Craft Brewery - Hoppy Bunny ABA
1463. The Bruery - Oude Tart
1464. Avery Brewing - Rumpkin - This is a completely awesome pumpkin ale.  It's my new favorite, but be wary as it's 17%!
1465. Old Bust Head Brewing - Chukker Pilsner
1466. Old Bust Head Brewing - English Pale Ale
1467. New Belgium Hop Kitchen #7 - Hop The Pond
1468. Lancaster Brewing - Milk Stout
1469. Apocalypse Ale Works/Devils Backbone - Devil’s Secret
1470. Founders Brewing - Harvest Ale
1471. Avery Brewing - The Reverend
1472. New Belgium/Perennial Artisan Ales - Lips of Faith - Salted Belgian Chocolate Stout
1473. Left Hand Brewing - Wake Up Dead Imperial Stout
1474. Cigar City Brewing - Apricot Grove - If you like apricots and sour ales, this is one you need to try, unfortunately as far as I can tell it's only available on tap at the brewery.
1475. Cigar City Brewing - Papandos Moscas - Sour mango ale, good but not as the next one on the list!
1476. Cigar City Brewing/New Belgium - Jamaican Mango - In short, wow!  Another one that' sonly available at the brewery as far as I can tell.
1477. Cigar City Brewing - Maduro Brown Ale - Really nice brown - this is available in cans, but doesn't seem to be available in Virginia.
1478. Cigar City Brewing - Minaret ESB
1479. Cigar City Brewing/Playalinda Brewing - Whirlpool Session Pale Ale - Not your typical pale ale.  Hop profile is almost all tropical fruit and this beer went incredibly well with the korean meatball slider from the food truck outside the brewery!  Another beer I would have loved to bring home, but it was only available at the brewery (no growlers on this or the sours).
1480. Cigar City Brewing - José Martí American Porter
1481. Cigar City Brewing - Sun Spear
1482. Cigar City Brewing - Strawberry Shortcake - Tasted almost exactly like strawberry shortcake in a glass.
1483. Cigar City Brewing - Stiftung Berliner Weisse - A great example of a berliner weisse!
1484. Inlet Brewing - Monk IPA
1485. Southern Tier Brewing - 2XMAS
1486. Boston Brewing - Samuel Adams (Barrel Room Collection) - Tetravis
1487. Sierra Nevada/Victory Brewing - Alt Route
1488. Avery Brewing - Pump[KY]n - Good, but not as good as the Rumpkin.
1489. Avery Brewing - Old Jubilation Ale
1490. Sierra Nevada/Cigar City - Beer Camp -Yonder Bock
1491. Lagunitas Brewing - A Little Sumpin' Sumpin' Ale
1492. Oskar Blues - Mama's Little Yella Pils
1493. Samuel Smith - Samuel Smith's Nut Brown Ale
1494. Sierra Nevada - Celebration Ale
1495. Brasserie d’Achouffe - N'Ice Chouffe
1496. Schlossberg Eggenberg - Samichlaus Classic
1497. Bell's Brewery - Winter White Ale
1498. Great Divide Brewing - Hibernation Ale
1499. Firestone Walker - Opal
1500. Strangeways Brewing - Soledad (Bourbon Barrel Aged)
1501. Bear Republic Brewing - Racer 5 IPA
1502. Elgood's - Coolship Lambic - This is an awesome British (!!!) lambic.  Had on tap at Capital Ale House in Richmond.  

That's the last of the beers from 2014.  Final post will be a rather large gigantic wine update.

Happy Zwanze Day!

Happy Zwanze Day!  We can't get to any to place remotely nearby that has any of the fine beer from Cantillon, so we decided to celebrate instead not with a Belgian sour, but rather an American sour from the only American brewer invited to the sour beer celebration in Belgium - Allagash Brewing Company. Tonight it's Allagash's FV 13.  This is a sour ale aged for four years in a giant (2700 gallon) oak foudre (or foeder).

1420. Allagash Brewing Company - FV 13 - Poured from bottle into snifter from one of my other favorite American sour producers, New Belgium Brewing. Pours a rich, dark, orange/copper with two finger head. Head dissipates down to maybe 5 mm fairly quickly. Aroma - vinegar, cherry, earthiness, some funk and forest floor. Taste - very earthy and funky - clear brett notes, vinegar, sour apple and cherry, and some sweetness. This really reminds me, on some notes, of Crooked Stave’s offerings in terms of brett-taste. Finish is long and tart and earthy. Carbonation level is appropriate and prickly; mouthfeel is creamy and slightly oily. This is a complex beer with lots of brettanomyces character.  We have one more bottle left and we'll probably let this one age awhile longer to see how it changes.  
      

Awhile back we also had another beer from the Sierra Nevada Beer Camp collaboration, but forgot to record that here.  

1421. Sierra Nevada / New Glarus - Beer Camp - There And Back - This is a traditional english-style bitter.  Poured from bottle into English pint. Pours a rich clear copper with a two finger head. Head pretty quickly dissipates to a thin skim. Aroma - nose is fruity hops with light grass and citrus underneath. There is also some biscuit malt on the nose as well. Taste is a really nice balance of biscuit and hops with less citrus than on the nose. Finish is long and malty, carbonation level is pretty high and prickly.  Didn't get a picture of this, but it's a beer that we wish there was a lot more of around.  

Beer Camp - Sierra Nevada / Bell's Brewery - Maillard's Odyssey

This is the second beer from the Beer Camp 12 pack.  This one is a collaboration with Sierra Nevada and Bell's Brewery.  They've created an imperial dark ale which is really an imperial dark strong ale.  

1418. Sierra Nevada / Bells Beer Camp - Maillard’s Odyssey - Pours a dark rich brown with 3 finger tan head. Head dissipates pretty quickly, but leaves a good deal of lacing. Aroma has notes of chocolate and caramel with subtle coffee underneath. Taste follows suit with some grassy notes early on. There is a little bit of alcohol on the finish giving a nice subtle warming in the belly.  This is quite rich, roasty, and very tasty.

Beer Camp - Ninkasi Brewing Double Latte

This year Sierra Nevada worked with 12 different breweries across the country in a program called Beer Camp to brew collaboration brews.  They then released a limited number of  12 packs and we managed to get one of the very few to come to our area.  Because these are special and so limited, we are going to post individual reviews to each brew.

The first one we tried is the collaboration with Ninkasi Brewing - Double Latte.

1417. Sierra Nevada / Ninkasi Brewing - Double Latte - This pours a dark color with light khaki head (2-3 fingers). Head is fairly resilient, but does fade some, leaving lots of lacing. Aroma smells like a latte - lots of rich espresso notes with creamy undertones and a touch of milk chocolate. Tastes follow the aromas to a tee. Really rich, creamy mouthfeel. Long finish, but it is subtle and nice.  It has been nice and cool here in the evening and this is going very nice with a chocolate chip cookie bar.  
      

Catch up beer post and a couple of food tastes

This is the catch-up beer post.  There's a lot of stuff on this list obviously so we'll keep comments moderately short.

1284. Founders - Nitro Oatmeal Stout 
1285. Birra del Borgo - ArcheoBirra Etrusca - Anfora - This beer is also made by Dogfish Head and Baladin, but this is aged in clay amphora whereas the other two are aged in stainless or wood. This is pleasantly sour and delicious - neither of the other two are as sour apparently (we have these in the cellar but haven't had them yet), but it will be interesting to compare them.  This was absolutely amazing!
1286. Avery Brewing - New World Porter
1287. Saucony Creek Brewing - Chocolate Cherry Schnickelfritz
1288. Devils Backbone Brewing - 16 Point Imperial IPA - This is their double IPA as compared to their regularly brewed 8 Point IPA.
1289. Boulevard Smokestack Series - Bourbon Barrel Quad - This is an absolutely awesome quad. 
1290. Breckenridge Brewery - 72 Imperial Chocolate Cream Stout
1291. Oskar Blues Brewery - G’Knight Imperial Red
1292. Terrapin Beer Company - Moo-Hoo Chocolate Milk Stout
1293. Stone Brewing - Ruination IPA
1294. Shmaltz Brewing - Reunion - A Beer For Hope 2013
1295. Birrificio del Ducato - My Blueberry Nightmare - We've tried a number of beers with peppers in them lately, but this was great.  Megan didn't like this much, but Brett bought the remainder in the store.  
1296. Bells Brewery - Smitten Golden Rye Ale
1297. Sierra Nevada Brewing - Ovila Golden - This is an excellent Belgian strong ale.  
1298. Brouwerij Rodenbach - Grand Cru - A nice readily available sour brown.  Their non-grand cru version is also nice.
1299. Boulevard Smokestack Series - Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale
1300. Shooting Creek Farm Brewery - Rebel Ale - All of the Shooting Creek beers are now brewed by Blue Mountain.  
1301. DC Brau Brewing - El Hefe Speaks
1302. Shmaltz Brewing - HeBrew Rejewvenator 2013
1303. Anderson Valley Brewing - Bahl Hornin’ Spring India Pale Ale
1304. Tröegs Brewing Company - Nugget Nectar Ale
1305. Sierra Nevada - Ovila Quad
1306. DuClaw Brewing - Hell on Wood - This part of Virginia is no longer going to be getting DuClaw due to distributor changes... sigh
1307. Goose Island - Bourbon County Barleywine - This is an amazing barley wine.  Yes, Goose Island is owned by AB-InBev, but it's still darn darn good.
1308. St. George Brewing - Pilsner
1309. Tröegs Brewing - Cultivator
1310. Terrapin - Side Project Pineapple Express Smoked Pineapple Helles - Weird, but not very much pineapple flavor.
1311. Avery Brewing - Collaboration Not Litigation
1312. Dogfish Head Brewery - Indian Brown Ale
1313. Woodchuck Cellar Series - Chocolate - This is terrible - it taste like powered-chocolate in cheap cider unfortunately.
1314. Old Dominion Brewing Company - Winter Brew (Baltic Porter)
1315. Abita Brewing - Spring IPA
1316. Brewery Ommegang - Abbey Ale
1317. Dogfish Head Brewery - Sixty-One
1318. Florida Brewing Company - John J Kelly’s Irish Raspberry Hard Cider - This is pretty terrible. Just skip right over this.
1319. Brewery Ommegang - Glimmerglass Saison
1320. Rogue Ales - Irish Style Lager
1321. The Duck-Rabbit Craft Brewery - Porter
1322. Allagash Brewing Company - Tripel Reserve
1323. Brewery Ommegang - Hop House
1324. Sierra Blanca Brewing - Roswell Alien Amber Ale
1325. Great Divide Brewing - Orabelle
1326. Dogfish Head Brewery - Piercing Pils
1327. Selkirk Abbey Brewing - Infidel
1328. DuClaw Brewing - Misery
1329. Rogue Ales - New Crustacean Barleywineish Imperial IPA Sorta
1330. Evil Twin - Even More Jesus - An imperial stout that even Megan (sort of) liked!  Really nice!
1331. Maine Beer Company - Red Wheelbarrow
1332. BFM - √225 Saison Apricot - This is the first of 3 beers Brett had while in DC for a meeting at Pizza Paradiso.  Excellent pizza, huge beer selection, and 3 locations - try one of them if you're in the area.  
      
      
      
1333. Jopen / The Monarchy - Vereinigte Historische Bierfanatiker Grätzer - This was an interesting gose - went well with the pizza!
      
1334. Hanssens Artisinal -  Experimental Raspberry (Frambozenlambik) - Tired of your sour beers not being sour enough?  Try this!  This is possibly the sourest beer Brett has ever had.  He loves sour and yet this might be almost, it isn't, but almost too sour.  Note - this is almost one dimensional because of the dominant sour notes.  If you don't like sour, don't bother trying this - this is not your sweet Lindeman's Framboise!
1335. Southern Tier Brewing - Blackwater Series: Choklat
1336. Uinta Brewing - Bristlecone Brown Ale
1337. Bells Brewery - Hopslam
1338. Brewery Ommegang - Chocolate Indulgence
1339. Damascus Brewery - Backbone Bock
1340. Parkway Brewing - Magella Belgian Dark Abbey Ale
1341. Great Lakes Brewing - Edmund Fitzgerald Porter
1342. Abita Brewing - Andygator
1343. Kona Brewing - Fire Rock Pale Ale
1344. Dark Horse Brewing - Tres Blueberry Stout
1345. Verhaeghe - Barbe Ruby
1346. Off Color Brewing - Scurry - Unusual and very good.  Pairs great with food or enjoy on its own!
1347. Great Shoals Winery - Bosc & Bartlett Hard Pear (Perry) - Perry is pear cider.
1348. Great Shoals Winery - Blazing Star Hard Peach
1349. Stone Brewing - Spröcket Bier
1350. Maui Brewing - Lahaina Town Brown
1351. Flying Dog Imperial IPA - Amarillo Single Hop - Ugh, don't like just amarillo hops in a beer... Also this tasted a bit like burned Corn-Nuts - strange strange strange.
1352. Otter Creek Brewing - Fresh Slice
1353. Stone Brewing - Stone Farking Wheaton w00tstout 
1354. Left Hand Brewing - 400 Pound Monkey
1355. Odell Brewing - India Pale Ale (IPA)
1356. Hellenic Breweries of Atalanti - Blue Island - Yes, beer from Greece.  It's as "amazing" as you might expect.  It was literally $10 a case, but we bought a 6 pack for post-lawn mowing or boiling brats or something.  
1357. Long Trail Brewery - Ramble
1358. Bavik-De Brabandere - Petrus Oud Bruin
1359. Fort Collins Brewery - Chocolate Stout
1360. R.J. Rockers Brewing - Son of a Peach Wheat Ale
1361. Allagash Brewing - Curieux - What an excellent aged triple - super complex!
1362. Natty Greene's - Salute American Stout
1363. Natty Greene's - Summit IPA
1364. Natty Greene's - Springfest Pilsener
1365. Natty Greene's - Wildflower Witbier
1366. Natty Greene's - Ordinary Bitter
1367. Natty Greene's - Elm Street IPA
1368. Blue Dog Mead Company - Green Collar Mead
1369. Tröegs Brewing - Troegenator Doublebock
1370. Evil Twin Brewing - Hipster Ale
1371. Breckenridge Brewing - SummerBright Ale
1372. Founders Brewing - All Day IPA
1373. Mikkeller - Better Half
1374. New Belgium Brewing - Lips of Faith:  Le Terroir - It's a giant pity that we can't get this regularly out here.  We found this only because a distributor had made a mistake and we managed to grab a bottle.  If you can get a hold of this, enjoy!
1375. Chaos Mountain - Cheeky Monkey Belgian Blonde - A new brewery popped up about 1.5 hours away from us, but conveniently right near The Harvester where we went to see Toad the Wet Sprocket!
1376. Chaos Mountain - Mad Hopper IPA
1377. Chaos Mountain - Squatch Scotch Ale
1378. Chaos Mountain - 4 Mad Chefs Quadrupel - Brought a growler of this home!  Not quite the thick mouthfeel expected from the style, but the taste profile was dead on.
1379. Chaos Mountain - Agents of Chaos Belgian Special Dark
1380. Chaos Mountain - Cocoborealis Triple Chocolate Stout - Again, this was a bit thin feeling compared to the expected mouthfeel for the style and the coffee flavor was more dominant than chocolate for us.
1381. Chaos Mountain - Edge Of The Sun Lager
1382. Chaos Mountain - Toulouse to Trek - Probably Brett's favorite - this is a saison and very nice, but Megan doesn't really like saisons so growler fill was the quad!

We ate at Blue 5 before the Johnnyswim concert (they're awesome - give them a listen!) for our anniversary night out.

1383. Moonshine chicken sandwich - Megan had this and it was good.  The fries were really crispy!
1384. Blackened cajun catfish - Brett had this - very nicely cooked blackened catfish with lump crab on top and some excellent red beans and rice as a side.
1385. Brownie cheesecake with vanilla ice cream - Megan's dessert
1386. Bread pudding with vanilla ice cream - Brett's dessert;  nicely spiced and it almost tasted like there were pieces of apple in it

Long time, no posts...

This has been one heck of a semester and we obviously haven't spent any time whatsoever about posting our new tastes.  We haven't been slacking off in terms of tasting, but sure have been about posting about those tastes!  Because we have such a backlog, we'll start with just some food tastes, then move to beer, and then wine.

1257. Lake Champlain - Salted dark chocolate
1258. Crostini with Balsamic Caramelized Onions, Melted Cheese & Sage
1259. Almond-Bacon Cheese Crostini
1260. Stowaway Chocolates - Peanut Butter Meltaway

We went to a special wine tasting dinner in Marion, Virginia held at the General Francis Marion Hotel/Black Rooster restaurant.  There were some phenomenal wines and great food.  The food and wine was a smattering of spanish wines and foods.

1261. Esparragos blancos - white asparagus, lemon, caper
1262. Aceitunas arbequinas y cabrales - sweet brown olives, artisanal blue cheese
1263. Manchego, jamón y membrillo - sheep's milk cheese, cured ham, and quince
1264. Pan a la catalana - crusty bread, garlic, tomato, wild olive oil
1265. Torta de cangrejo - crab cake and saffron aioli
1266. Lubina con romesco - Mediterranean seabass, roasted pepper, and almond sauce
1267. Carrillada de cerdo - braised pork cheeks, sofrito, glace
1268. Tarta de Santiago - marcona almond cake
1269. Flan con jarabe de café - custard and coffee syrup

One of the regulars at the wine club is starting a fine chocolates business, Chocomiro, and their chocolates are incredibly delicious.  They have a limited selection now, but every single one we tried was phenomenal.

1270. Chocomiro - Creamy espresso caramel
1271. Chocomiro - Jasmine tea lemon ganache
1272. Chocomiro - Earl grey garnache
1273. Chocomiro - Deep vanilla caramel
1274. Chocomiro - Cherry fondant cordial
1275. Chocomiro - Coconut
1276. Chocomiro - Deep vanilla sea salt caramel
1277. Chocomiro - Four spice fusion
1278. Chocomiro - Raspberry ganache
1279. Chocomiro - Saffron lavender honey fusion

We're sure that there's more foods we've tried, but we are often lazy about remembering to record new foods.  

Brett went to a meeting in the DC area and was able to go to Pizza Paradiso (the DuPont Circle location) and got a nice pizza.

1280. Macellaio - Paradiso Tomato, Pepperoni, Mozzarella, Sausage, Red Onion 

Megan found a quick casserole recipe for dinner.  It's fast to make and darn tasty!

1281. Hamburger potato casserole

Extras beyond the first 1000

We actually have a number of tastes that went beyond the first 1000, but we were holding these back to use specific tastes for the last 5.  We'll start off with some extra new food tastes:

1001. Chuao - Honeycomb bar - This is a dark chocolate bar with caramelized honey bits inside.  The texture is similar to a crisp bar with rice, but there's a pretty subtle honey taste.  
1002. Spiced apple squares with maple whipped cream - Brett made this for Christmas day and they are delicious.  Recipe is here.
1003. Idahoan - Steakhouse bacon and ranch potatoes - We were looking for some quick potatoes as a side dish one night when we were busy.  It clearly wouldn't be hard to make these on your own, but the quick convenience was nice and they were actually pretty tasty. 

We have a number of beer tastes backlogged as well.  

1004. Elysian Brewing - Bifröst Winter Ale - This was part of the last shipment of the beer of the month club Megan won.  It was okay, but nothing too special.
1005. Founders Brewing - Breakfast Stout - This is one of the highest rated stouts on ratebeer.com, and rightly so.   Brett just slightly prefers their Imperial Stout, but this is darn good.
1006. Elysian Brewing - Loser Pale Ale - This was the other selection from Elysian in the last shipment.  It's very drinkable and went very well with dinner.  Not the best pale ale, but certainly good.
1007. Anchor Brewing - Our Special Ale (2013) - This year's version was good but our notes were based solely on a small taster.  We have a bottle to try at home, but this actually ages well so we might hold it to next year too.  
1008. Brouwerij Corsendonk - Christmas Ale - Again, part of a tasting, but this was also pretty good.
1009. Sly Fox Brewing - Christmas Ale - This was also part of a tasting - a little too much clove for my taste, but it might age and mellow out.  
1010. Mikkeller - Santas Little Helper (2013) - Another taster, this has an 11% alcohol content and it is clearly there in the taste.  It's not overwhelming, but a nice winter warmer.   
1011. Bell's Brewery - Cherry Stout - If you buy this, I hope you like cherry!  Brett loves a fruit beer, especially cherry stout, but this is way overbalanced to the cherry side of things.  
1012. New Belgium - Snow Day - Found this in the cellar, way past its "best by" date, but it was still very good.  
1013. Brouwerij De Ranke - Père Noël
1014. Brouwerij Het Anker - Gouden Carolus Noël (Christmas) - Do you like anise/licorice?  This is the beer for you!  Good grief there's a lot of licorice flavor in this.  People we talked to say that this did not taste like this last year.
1015. Perennial Artisan Ales - Fête de Noël - The flavor on this is reminiscent of a spiced rum - very warm and round in your mouth.  
1016. Dubuisson - Bush de Noël (Scaldis Noël) - Surprisingly, flavors of toffee and caramel were prevalent in this.
1017. Liefmans - Fruitesse - We had a bottle of this in the cellar.  It's a lambic blended with berries (strawberry and raspberry) and then some added sugar.  To Brett, the added sugar made this too sweet and totally overwhelmed the tartness and farmyard flavors you would expect in a fruit lambic.  Megan thought it wasn't too sweet and liked it quite a bit.
1018. Boston Beer Co - Samuel Adams Merry Maker - This is a gingerbread stout.  On its own, it's flavor is a little too dominated by black coffee with the ginger and spices playing second fiddle. But, if you want to try something fun, pour 1 - 2 oz of good quality egg nog into a glass and add the stout.  Leave plenty of head space as it's going to foam like crazy, but you know have a gingerbread-egg nog-stout shake which is delicious. 
1019. Lagunitas Brewing Company - Lagunitas Sucks - Like many breweries today, Lagunitas cannot keep up with their demand, even though they've recently increased their brewing capacity.  They did not have enough time to brew their regular holiday ale, so they instead brewed this.  It's an American strong ale, brewed with 4 grains (barley, wheat, oats, rye) and then hopped to a reasonable 63 IBU.  We believe they should just add this to their regular line-up!  

We have over 100 wine tastings yet to add so we'll stop this post here and make one gigantic wine tasting post next.  

Numbers 996 - 1000!

We're down to our last 5 tastes until we hit the 1000 mark.  Here's our final 5 tastes and because it's the last 5, we've saved some great ones and we'll give a full description of each one.  Numbers 998 - 1000 were all had the same weekend at Vintage Cellar and we provided two of them (#998 and #1000) while #999 was provided by another customer.  The remaining 5 tastes, #996 and #997, were had during a special Champagne tasting.

996. Gruyère Gougères - To go with the champagne tasting, Megan made some great little appetizers that are delicious cheese puffs. These were light, tasty, and went incredibly well with the champagne.  They went over so well, she was asked to just mail out the recipe to all attendees. Brett will definitely be begging for them to be made again (soon).  The recipe is here.  
     
997. 1997 - Salon Champagne - Brut - Blanc de Blancs - Megan belongs to a women and wine club. They were having a special champagne tasting (okay, there was one sparkling wine from California, the rest were true champagnes), but there weren't going to be enough members attending so men were allowed to come.  Brett jumped at the chance to join Megan for the tasting.  There were a lot of great champagnes that night, but this was the top of the night. This was also the most expensive wine of the night at $400/bottle.  Would we ever buy a bottle for ourselves?  Probably not especially when there were many other champagnes that were almost as good but at a significantly lower price.   Our review summary:  aroma - pear, apricot, bread; taste - sweet, honey notes, not too tart, smooth, creamy and buttery, walnut and almond oil, creamy, almost like brie; this is very very good.  
     
998. 2011 - Atlantic Brewing Company - Brother Adams Honey Bragget Ale - It's fairly rare that a beer has a vintage on it, but this one does!  We brought this back from our trip to Maine on a whim while we were at the brewery.  While this is a bragget (an ale brewed with honey), this was made in the style of a barley wine, meaning big alcohol (almost 12%).  After having this, we wish we had brought more home with us.  What a great winter drink and one bottle is plenty to share between two or three people.  Our review summary:  A 2011 bottle consumed in 2013. This was delicious and makes me wish that I’d brought more back from the brewery. Aroma - lemon, honey, toffee, cherry jolly rancher, butterscotch, becomes more raisiny as time passes after opening; taste - sour, tart, warming with bread baking, honey. This has aged amazingly well. If you have some, let it age and see how well this ages.  As we noted, the aroma and flavor changes so much from the moment of opening until the last sip, that it drinks more like a wine than any barley wine we've had.  This was most excellent.  
     
999. 2003 - d'Arenberg - Shiraz - The Dead Arm - As noted above, on the same weekend we were finishing our 1000th taste at Vintage Cellar, we were lucky enough that another customer had brought in this amazing Shiraz to share.  Originally this wine when purchased, from Vintage Cellar, was almost too big to drink.  After 10 years, it had aged beautifully and maintained all the rich fruit flavors shiraz is known for while mellowing out some of the intenseness that it was originally known for. Our review summary:  aroma - cherry, blackberry, black cherry, eucalyptus, fun and happy smelling like jumble berry pie; taste - chewy, round, okay but not overwhelming, dried oak fruits, so many berries, smoky with mineral on the finish, hint of mild tobacco.  This was amazingly delicious.  
     
1000. 1968 - Gaja - Barbaresco - Brian and Teresa Taylor (Brett's brother and sister-in-law) gave this to Brett for his 40th birthday.  It's been sitting in the cellar since then, awaiting the "perfect" occasion to open.  If we've learned nothing about this project, it's that we should be less worried about when to have a new taste and rather to just have the experience.  The event itself can be made special by having that taste.  We decided that we would share this with our friends at Vintage Cellar as they have helped us reach the magical kilotaste!  This barbaresco is pretty old - most barbarescos are to be consumed in 15 - 20 years, not 45!  The cork was moderately decayed and we were worried that with its age and the state of the cork that it could be spoiled.  We poured everyone a small glass.  Our review went like this:  This was 45 years old, but surprisingly delicious. Color - brown, red/black plum juice; pours with some sediment, looks a lot like when you make homemade grape jelly as you boil it before adding gelatin; aroma - a bit of funk on the pop and pour, slate, mineral, caramel, smoke, nutmeg shows up after bottle is opened after an hour or so; taste - cherry, not really chewy, but very complex, plum, bright strawberry and juicy, finish is tart berry followed by olive, leather, tannins, finish is slightly drying; pepperoni/cured meat at the back. With proscuitto, becomes creamer, but smoky at the finish. With bleu cheese, the wine loses its fruitiness. With a sweet cheese, the wine exhibits lots of bright fruit/strawberry flavors. What an unbelievable bottle after 45 years!!!  In short the wine was surprisingly excellent and had aged quite well.  Everyone was excited to have the opportunity to try, especially us, and it was an excellent choice to be the 1000th taste.  Thanks very much to Brian and Teresa for the bottle!  
      

We're thankful for any and all who have followed our progress.   We learned a lot, about ourselves and our likes and dislikes.  We also learned that Brett can't divide and realize 1000 new tastes is ~ 3/day when he first proposed this.  We have gone well over 1000 tastes so we'll post those beyond the kilotaste mark before the end of the year.  We'll also post some of our top 10 (maybe top 5) lists, summaries of our tastes by types, and more.   

We will continue updating this blog, but we aren't going to actively try to do another 1000 next year as it was a lot of effort and we sometimes sacrificed other activities to complete the 1000.  We encourage everyone to try lots of new things and enjoy the opportunities life throws out at you.  

New Tastes - Catching Up

We've been super busy with the end of the semester and finishing up refinishing our countertops, then we both got sick.  The good news is we made it through the semester and we've more than made 1000 tastes.   We will take this list up to 995, then over the next few days wrap up the remaining 5 with some big tastes.   We will then have a couple best of and worst of lists.  Once we get those done, we'll continue the list from 1000 on.  Because we're catching up from almost a month, there won't be tons of descriptions here.

961. Chuao - Maple Bacon Milk Chocolate - This was the first thing from Chuao that we didn't really like.  It has a "bonfire smoked salt" which was just completely overwhelming.  There was bonfire on the palate and bonfire in your nose the whole time you chewed, but it wasn't like wood smoke, it was like wood and some plastic/rubber/trash.  The smoke was just way too overwhelming to enjoy this.  It's possible that the small taster we got was just out of proportion from a full bar, but we're both a lot gun-shy to try it again.
962. New Belgium Brewing - Accumulation - This is their new seasonal white IPA and normally that's not a style either of us are huge fans of, but this is very good.  Brett surprisingly like this a whole lot.
963. Brouwerij Rodenbach - Rodenbach - Classic Belgian red sour from Belgium and it's delicious.  
964. Einbecker Brauhaus - Einbecker Winter-Bock - nice winter bock
965. Anchor Brewing - BigLeaf Maple Autumn Red - Virginia finally got some of this, well past fall, but better late than ever.  
966. 2006 - Blackwing Shiraz
967. 2012 - Nautilus Estate - Sauvignon Blanc
968. 2011 - Yalumba - Vermentino
969. 2011 - Langmeil - Hangin' Snakes
970. 2012 - Yalumba - Shiraz - Galway Vintage - Barossa Valley
971. 2010 - Yalumba - Cabernet Sauvignon - The Cigar - The Menzies
972. 2010 - Reichsrat Von Buhl - Riesling - Medium Dry - Maria Schneider Jazz
973. 2012 - Viña Robles - White4
974. 2010 - Viña Robles - Cabernet Sauvignon
975. 2010 - Viña Robles - Petite Sirah - Estate
976. 2010 - Viña Robles - RED4 - Paso Robles
977. 2012 - Locations CA - This is super delicious.  It's a ridiculous label with just "CA" and the California flag on the label.  
978. 2009 - Pietra Santa - Chardonnay - Twin Terraces
979. 2011 - Pietra Santa - Pinot Gris - Amore
980. 2006 - Pietra Santa - Cabernet Sauvignon - Signature Collection
981. 2009 - Pietra Santa - Cabernet Sauvignon
982. 2009 - Pietra Santa - Merlot
983. 2008 - Pietra Santa - Sangiovese
984. NV - Cantina del Taburno - Falanghina Folius - Falanghina - Extra Dry
985. 2012 - Domaine Bois de Boursan - Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc
986. 2008 - Brewer-Clifton - Chardonnay - Mount Carmel
987. 2012 - Zind-Humbrecht - Gewurztraminer
988. 2011 - Wwe. Dr. H. Thanisch (Erben-Thanisch) - Berncasteler - Doctor - Riesling Kabinett
989. 2008 - Brewer-Clifton - Pinot Noir - Mount Carmel
990. 2012 - Patricia Green Cellars - Pinot Noir - Freedom Hill Vineyard
991. 2010 - Domaine Serene - Pinot Noir - Evenstad Reserve
992. 2005 - Bodegas Muga - Rioja Gran Reserva - Prado Enea
993. 2008 - Azelia - Barolo - Margheria
994. 2008 - Girardet - Gewürztraminer - Frostbite
995. 2009 - St. Clement - Sauvignon Blanc - Napa Valley

That's all for now.   Check back for our final 5 tastes very very soon!

Tastes from Nov 11th - 17th

This was a relatively slow week for us.  We did do some new tastes, but with the coming end of the school year and the rush and bustle that comes with it, we have been too busy to do much.  We'll start with some tastes from our regular Vintage Cellar Saturday tasting.

952. 2008 - Guy Saget - Pouilly-Fumé - Le Domaine Saget
953. 2009 - Bouchard Finlayson - Blanc de Mer
954. 2009 - Quinta do Quetzal - Alentejo Guadalupe
955. 2007 - Bodegas y Viñedos Escudero - Rioja - Noega
956. 2003 - Castello di Lucignano - Il Solissimo
957. 2006 - Fortediga Estates - Cabernet - Syrah - Maremma - Toscana IGT

We also tried 3 new beers over the week.

958. Brewery Ommegang - Adoration - This is one spicy beer with some unusual spices you don't often find in beers like grains of paradise and mace.  It's initially a bit overpowering, but as you drink it (and it warms up some to maybe 55F), it becomes smoother and more drinkable.  
959. Epic Brewing - Fest Devious Märzen - This is a nice fall beer - quite a nice märzen.
960. Rogue Ales - Santas Private Reserve - Our second Christmas beer and this is one very hoppy ale. 

That's all for this week.  We should have a lot more tastes this coming week.  

Tastes from Nov 4th - 10th

We had a good week and went to Virginia Beach for a meeting for Brett - the Chesapeake Section of the American Association of Physics Teachers.  We had some new food tastes, starting with a trip to the Melting Pot for dinner (including a new wine).

935. Bourbon Bacon Cheddar Cheese Fondue - This had some mustard powder in it which was a bit overpowering since neither of us really enjoy mustard.  It wasn't overwhelming and certainly didn't stop us from eating every single piece of bread, vegetable, and granny smith apple that came with it!
936. White Chocolate Crème Brûlée Fondue - This was their special dessert fondue at the time.  This was a bit too sweet for Brett.  Both of us did like it, but since most of the items to dip were sweet we would have preferred something with a bit of bitterness for contrast to the fondue.
     
937. 2010 - Vinaceous - Shiraz - Snake Charmer - This was really good with dinner and made a nice complement to the fondue.
     
     
     

Megan also had a new sandwich on our return home at Panera.

938. Big Kid Grilled Cheese - Three kinds of cheese and bacon were delicious, especially with Panera's cream of tomato soup.

There was a special tasting of wines from Bourdeaux at Vintage Cellar on Thursday this week.

939. 2012 - Vieux Château Gaubert Benjamin de Vieux - Château Gaubert - Blanc
940. 2011 - Château Barrabaque - Cuvée Antoine
941. 2012 - Chateau Clou du Pin - red Bourdeaux blend
942. 2009 - Château Plaisance (Bordeaux Supérieur)
943. 2009 - Château Bellegrave du Poujeau
944. 2010 - Château Dasvin-Bel-Air
945. 2010 - Château Hourtin-Ducasse
946. NV - Domaine des Nugues Beaujolais-Villages - Made by G - Have someone who says they don't like wine?  Give them some of this to change their mind - it's light, effervescent, refreshing, and clearly grape, but very drinkable and would go very well with Thanksgiving dinner.
947. 1998 - Charles Melton - Cabernet Sauvignon - Wes, the distributor, likes to bring one wine from his cellar to play "guess the wine" with.  This is a pretty old wine and has really changed from a typical Cab Sauv flavor profile.  It was almost like a tawny, but still with what Megan feels is a typical eucalyptus aroma from Australian wines.  It's amazing what 15 years can do to change a wine's flavor and this was fun to taste.

Last but not least, we have a few new beers we tried.

948. Bison Brewing - Organic Gingerbread Ale - The first Christmas beer tried for the season.  This was interesting and is supposed to be a porter with gingerbread flavors added in.  It was okay, but nothing we would go out of the way to have again.  
949. Saucony Creek - Captain Pumpkin’s Maple Mistress - This was a maple "pumpkin" beer, but actually was made with butternut squash.  The maple that was added is hard to notice in either the aroma or on the palate.
950. J.K.’s Northern Neighbour - Farmhouse Cider - Saskatoon Cuvee - This is an absolutely excellent cider.  This is Fall in a bottle.  Superb and everyone should seek this out for an example of an excellent cider.  
951. Unibroue - La Fin du Monde - Very delicious Belgian-style triple that was fermented on lees.  Yeast and citrus aromas and a delicious taste.  

Tastes from Oct 28th - Nov 3rd

As we approach 1000 tastes, we seem to be enjoying the tasting process more and more.  Now that we're so close, we are really trying to make sure the last 100 are excellent.

We'll start off with some foods:

908. Bruno' Gastro Truck - Gooey Brownie - This is their triple chocolate brownie covered in a homemade caramel sauce.  This is deliciously chewy, chocolatey, and the caramel sauce provides a nice complement.  Plan on sharing it unless you're feeling gluttonous or super hungry.
     
     
     
     
     
909. Stella Fontina - This was a cheese Megan didn't like much, but Brett liked quite a bit.  Fontina makes a better sauce than eating raw.  
910. French toast crockpot breakfast - Supposed to be similar to a stuffed french toast.  It was made with apples and walnuts, but it didn't turn out very well and we won't be making it again, so no recipe.
911. Kettle Chips - Sweet and Salty chips - These are, like the bag says, sweet and salty.  They are not amazing, but not bad.

On to the beers we tried:

912. Anchor Brewing - Small Beer - This is a traditional-style;  the beer is made by using the second sparging of grain used to make a barley wine with the first sparge.  It's the first time that Brett has had this style before and it tastes like a watered-down barley wine.  
913. Fuller's - London Brewing - This is Brett's favorite porter of all time.  Perfect.
914. Founders Brewing - Porter - This isn't Fuller's, but it is darn good and a very good alternative if you can't find a Fuller's.
915. Southern Tier - Pumking - This is renowned as a great pumpkin ale for the season, but at least the one we had was way too much clove.  The clove becomes more subtle as it sits, but it takes awhile.  The ale is clearly pumpkin and the sweetness of the pumpkin is apparent in every single sip. 
916. Hofbräu München - Oktoberfestbier - This is probably one of the worst märzens we've had all season.  It's not bad, but it's also not very good.

Finally, we went to two, count 'em, two different wine tastings over the weekend.  A new wine shop has opened in Fairlawn called Barrel Cave Wines and Saturday was their grand opening.  

917. NV - Marsuret Prosecco - Treviso - Extra Dry
918. 2011 - Quinta das Arcas - Conde Villar - Alvarinho
919. 2012 - Neudorf - Sauvignon Blanc
920. 2012 - West Cape Howe - Chardonnay - Unwooded
921. 2007 - Bodega O. Fournier - Ribera del Duero - Spiga
922. 2010 - Klein Constantia - Cabernet Sauvignon

After that we headed over to the regular Saturday tasting at Vintage Cellar.  We were lucky and got to taste a number of really, really excellent wines.  

923. 2012 - Cantina di Gambellara - Soave - i Basalti
924. 2013 - Viña Siegel - Sauvignon Blanc - Crucero
925. 2011 - Winzer von Erbach - Erbacher Honigberg - Riesling
926. 2011 - Charles Thomas - Côtes du Rhône
927. 2012 - Chakana - Malbec - Maipe Reserve
928. 2010 - Klinker Brick - Zinfandel
     
929. NV - Rinaldi - Red Dream
930. 2008 - Fratelli Alessandria - Barolo - Monvigliero - The first of our super tastes.  This was amazing and we gave this a 92.
931. 2007 - Saint-Cosme - Châteauneuf-du-Pape - The second super taste. We gave this a 97.  It was delicious, complex, and amazing.  
932. 2009 - M. Chapoutier - Shiraz - Domaine Tournon - Lady's Lane - This was very good, but paled compared to the rest, obviously so since we gave it only an 87.
933. 2012 - Chakana Estate Selection - This is a red blend with 60% Malbec, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Shiraz.  We gave this a 96 and left with two bottles.  This will get better with a few more years aging, but it's very very good now.
     
934. 2010 - Bodegas Alto Moncayo - Campo de Borja - This was our final taste and we gave it a 90.  

It's over 900!!! Tastes for Oct 21st - 27th

We have now hit 900 tastes!  A bit over two months to go and we only need just under 100 new tastes. This week we have new foods, new beers, and new wines.  We'll start with the foods.

865. Chuao - Potato chip bar - This is a milk chocolate bar with crisp kettle cooked potato chips and a touch of sea salt.  This is a very complex milk chocolate and tastes almost like dark chocolate. It is very, very good. If you like Late Night Snack by Ben and Jerry's, you'll like this a lot.  
     
866. Liberte - Lemon Greek Yogurt - Brett loves greek yogurt and sour/tart foods and drinks.  He had never had lemon yogurt before (with real lemon juice and pulp), but it is delicious. 
867. Pepperidge Farm - Caramel Apple Pie cookies - Typical Pepperidge Farm style cookies, but this is a limited fall edition.  They taste like apple pie in cookie form with a moderate number of caramel chips.
868. Dairy Vale - Vintage Cheddar Cheese - This was surprisingly not very sharp.  It was nutty and pretty good, but would like it a bit more sharp.
869. Hennings - Garlic and Dill Cheddar - Brett likes this a lot and thinks the dill is reasonable and well-balanced with the sharpness of the cheddar and the garlic.  Megan doesn't like dill that much and doesn't agree about the well-balanced part.  To each their own!  :-)
870. Calbee - Shrimp Chips - These are shaped like Cheetos, but they taste like shrimp and leave no orange stains on your fingers.  Megan didn't try these and Brett thought they were okay, but that shrimp-flavored corn crisps are pretty weird.  
     
871. Gruyere and Horseradish Cheese Spread - This was from Kroger's deli.  Neither of us really like horseradish that much, but try it we did.  Oh my, it was like ALL horseradish.  We couldn't taste the gruyere at all.
872. Kroger - Yogurt & Berries mini rice cakes - These are much like the Quaker rice cakes that have been out for awhile now.  These were surprisingly berry tasting and pretty darn good.

Vintage Cellar had a huge closeout tasting on Wednesday.  Unfortunately, Brett has lab until 5, then has to ride home, and after all that we headed over.  By the time we got there, a lot of the wines were gone.  At some point, we'll also learn to go straight to the red wines instead of stopping and doing the whites first, even though they are right there when you walk in.  Since we generally prefer reds, you would think we'd know this by now, but apparently we're slow learners.

873. NV - Heidsieck & Co. - Monopole Champagne - Green Top Demi-Sec - This is really good.  Looking for an excellent champagne for New Year's Eve?  This would be an excellent choice.
874. NV - Heidsieck & Co. - Monopole Champagne - Rosé Top Brut
875. 2011 - Weingut Steininger - Riesling
876. 2009 - Louis Latour - Montagny 1er Cru La Grande Roche
877. 2008 - Domaine Christian Moreau Père et Fils - Chablis 1er Cru Vaillons - Other people really really like this, but we didn't find this very impressive for some reason.  
878. 2010 - Doña Paula - Torrontés Estate
879. 2006 - Sonoma-Cutrer - Chardonnay Founders Reserve
880. 2009 - Sbragia Family - Chardonnay - Gamble Ranch
881. 2011 - Artesa - Chardonnay - Carneros
882. 2009 - Torii Mor - Chardonnay
883. 2011 - Tolosa Winery - Roussanne - Edna Ranch
884. 2009 - Rosenblum Cellars - Viognier - Kathy's Cuvée
885. 2010 - Altavins Viticoltors - Terra Alta - Domus Pensi
886. 2009 - Ogier Caves des Papes - Côtes du Rhône - Heritages - Blanc
887. 2010 - J. Vidal-Fleury - Côtes du Rhône - Blanc
888. 2010 - Mollydooker - Verdelho - The Violinist
889. 2011 - Don Cristóbal - 1492 - Chardonnay/Viognier/Chenin blend 
890. 2008 - Philippe Delesvaux - Coteaux du Layon - St. Aubin - This bottle was flawed.  Mostly it tasted musty, dusty, and like mothballs.  
891. 2007 - Santa Ema - Cabernet Sauvignon - Amplus
892. 2006 - Beni di Batasiolo - Barbaresco
893. 2008 - Achával-Ferrer - Malbec - Finca Bella Vista - Wow wow wow - we gave this a 95 and it's very, very good.
894. NV - Cantine Pellegrino - Marsala Superiore Sweet

We also went over for the Saturday wine tasting.  

895. 2012 - Domaine de la Grenaudière - Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine Sur Lie - Brett liked this more than Megan (although she also liked it).  The "sur lie" means it was aged for some time on the lees which is the yeast and other particulates that precipitate out during the fermentation (and fining).  This was crisp, tart, and citrus and very refreshing.  
896. 2012 - Jean-Paul Thibert - Mâcon-Fuissé 
897. 2012 - Avantis Estate - Evia - Greece - You don't see a lot of Greek wine being praised, but this was quite good and refreshing.  
898. 2009 - Château de Chamilly - Bourgogne
899. 2011 - Clos du Mont-Olivet - Côtes du Rhône - Vieilles Vignes Montueil la Levade - We didn't like this at all and would say maybe the bottle was flawed, but other people at the tasting thought it was great so...  
900. 2009 - Quinta das Liceiras - Douro - Made in Portugal from the same grapes that make port. This was pretty interesting and you can really taste what we guess could be called "adolescent" port.  
901. 2010 - Bodegas Volver - Monastrell - Tarima Hill - This is very good and reasonably priced (as is the 2012 if you can find it).
902. 2006 - Long Shadows Wineries - Cabernet Sauvignon - Feather - Also very excellent, but definitely not an everyday kind of wine at around $40 - $50 a bottle.  

Last, but not least, we tried a number of new beers this week.

903. Sierra Nevada - Tumbler - Autumn Brown Ale
904. Bells - Special Double Cream Stout
905. Maine Beer Company - MO - This is an excellent American Pale Ale.  It's unfortunately going to be hard for some people to find as they have fairly limited distribution.
906. Sixpoint  Brewery - Autumnation (2013) - First wet hop beer for the season that we've been able to try.  This year, Sixpoint used Mosaic hops and it was quite interesting.  
907. Left Hand Brewing - Nitro Milk Stout - This is an absolutely delicious milk stout.  If you like milk stout as a style, be sure to give this one a try.

And that is all for the week.  We can't believe we've made it to over 900 already and are really looking forward to finishing up!  

Tastes from Oct 14th - 20th

We had a fun week of tastes throughout the week.  While we didn't get a huge number of tastes, those we did get were really good.  First off, we bought a piece of fruit we'd never had before from The Fresh Market.

850. Red plumicot - A cross between a plum and apricot, this was not uniformly ripe.  One side was slightly tart with a lot of sweetness and juicy.  The other side was not quite as sweet and a bit more pulpy.  They also had black and yellow plumicots, but we didn't buy one of those.  Those would be interesting to try.

We also had a few new beers at the house as well.

851. New Belgium Brewing - La Folie - A wonderful Belgian-style sour brown ale, typical examples come from the Flanders region.  This of course comes from Ft. Collins, Colorado.  
852. Weyerbacher Brewing - Imperial Pumpkin Ale - In this case, imperial means a bit too much spicing in our opinion.    

We tried a number of beers and wines at Vintage Cellar this week on Friday.

853. Foothills Brewing - Barrel Aged People's Porter
854. The Bruery - Autumn Maple
855. 2007 - Nuschese Wines - Irpinia Cassius
856. 2011 - Nuschese Wines - Pinot Grigio delle Venezie
857. 2009 - Nuschese Wines - La Pietra
858. 2008 - Il Paggio - Chianti Classico Riserva

On Saturday, we went to GoFest in Roanoke.  Last year, we camped and stayed the whole day, but this year we decided to just go down on Saturday.  There were a lot of fun things to do again and some wonderful food and beer available as well.

859. Starr Hill Brewing - Boxcarr Pumpkin Porter - This was an underwhelming pumpkin porter - the porter part was good, but the pumpkin sweetness and spice was so subtle, it was hard to notice it was there.
860. Starr Hill Brewing - The Love - This was a pretty good local hefeweizen.  Brett liked this a lot.
861. Parkway Brewing - Get Bent Mountain IPA - A fairly typical west coast-style IPA.
862. Bruno's GastroTruck - The Royale with Cheese - This is a Kobe beef burger with braised pork belly, farm egg, bacon jam, cheddar, arugula, tomato, sriracha mayo, challah bun, and chips.  Oh my lord that was good.   It was possibly the best burger Brett has ever had.  Seriously - bacon jam AND braised pork belly?!?!  The perfectly fried egg on top really adds something.
     
863.  Noke Food truck - taco plate - There were three kinds of tacos, chicken, beef, pork.  Unfortunately the meat was only slightly spiced and most of the additional flavor was from the salsa which was filled with cilantro.  Megan hates cilantro so this made her lunch not so good.
864. Toasted by Casey - Trippple Threat - This is a grilled cheese sandwich, but not like any other grilled cheese you've ever seen.  It includes cheddar slice, swiss slice, cheese sticks (yes, you read that right), and marinara sauce.  This was delicious, but we both thought it would be better if the marinara was a dipping sauce instead of on the sandwich.