This is the first post of a blog that I hope to turn into a sanctuary of illogical fandom, logical thought, drunken reflection, sober insight, and thoughts on beer.
For example, tonight, I had the house-made Belgian Grand Cru and Unibroue Trois Pistoles at the Blind Pig Brewery in Champaign, IL. Unibroue is a fabulous Quebecois brewery with a deliciously balanced lineup of equally deliciously balanced beers. You may recognize their bottles at the store from their awesome label artwork, featuring fantasy and/or Transcendentalist-like designs. Unibroue La Terrible doesn't beat you over the head with outrageous West Coast hops that don't belong in a tripel. Unibroue Ephemere is one of the only fruit beers I can drink because it doesn't taste syrupy. The Blind Pig Brewery's own Belgian Grand Cru perfectly mixes coriander, orange peel, and other tastes, commonly associated with a Belgian White, with bready, almost sweet, slightly sour Tripel yeast. They don't ruin it with an overdose of West Coast hops (are you starting to see a trend with regard to my attitude to overhopped beer?). The end result is a very authentic-tasting Belgian Grand Cru quite similar to Gouden Carolus.
When the Blind Pig Brewery first opened, their house-made brews had a lackluster reputation. I think it was maybe the first set of beers they had. I tried their second set and thought they were perfectly serviceable beers. From there on, they have gotten better and better. Their cider is definitely worth mention and their porter and English mild (on tap now, though I don't know for how long) are good beers.
On to hockey. People are suggesting trading Alexander Semin to Boston for Brad Marchand. Marchand had a great postseason and won the cup his rookie year. Semin scores 30-40 goals a year. Despite what a few traded fourth-liners say about Semin, I don't think that's a good trade. Semin, for all of what his detractors say, is a goal-scoring machine that turns it on when others on the team are in a slump. I think we should keep Semin.
Welcome to the blog, everyone.
