What's with mother nature and ensuring that I hate her?... I mean it has been on and off cold, teasing us with warm days here and there for a month now and right when the weather is getting to where you are like, "Hey! I'll break out my shorts and sandals, maybe run outside a bit (if I did that sort of thing) or observe nature as I drive around in my car with my sunroof back,"  the freaking spring showers start coming down on you, laughing the whole time cause we never expect it.

Well, been studying up for the GMAT... A little worried about taking the test but I'm sure it'll be fine. With this economy and after spending a lot of time applying for jobs with not too much luck, I figure I will get a part time job at a non-profit or something else that will look better than being a bartender or something and get my MBA. When I am done, hopefully the economy will be all better, the job market will be flourishing and (hell, while I am wishing for things that probably won't happen) I'll have won the lottery!

Baseball season is starting up! I always act excited as it is expected. And while I do catch Cardinals games when they are on, the season is so damn long that it doesn't get excited until the time Football is coming around and by then I am completely enthralled to my fantasy football league. It does however, get much better when you are drinking beer. You don't have to be a beer drinker to like baseball, but it helps.

I am having Boulevard's Tank number 7 tonight, a wonderful Farmhouse Ale from their smokestack series (full of good beers) for the first time! I hadn't been able to find it in St Louis until recently. Strangely, it is listed as a wheat wine on Beeradvocate.com so I am sure it holds those qualities. Either way, great stuff. If you are reading this and you are thinking about grabbing some, know that it is an ale that has much more taste and complexity when it isn't freezing cold.

I'm helping a good friend of mine move here from KC this weekend and I am pumped to have him. I don't know why, because there are a lot of guys from school that have moved here and are planning to move here but I feel as though I have sort of personally appointed myself to trying to get more of them here sort of like I am building a crew. Anyway, back to the beer of the post before I sample the Tank 7.

"Younger's Special Bitter" from a solid brewing companies, Rouge.

Younger's is an ESB (Extra Special Bitter) with 35 IBUs (International bitterness Units...they tell you how bitter a beer is going to be, to put it simply).

Beer advocate tells us that: "ESBs are essentially more aggressive and more balanced Bitters, both in alcohol and hop character, but nothing overpowering. Color range will be similar, though leaning towards the darker end of the scale; dark golds to copper. Low carbonation. Malts tend to be more pronounced, often toasty and fruity, with maybe some notes diacetyl. And despite "bitter" being in its name, ESBs are not really all that bitter. The key to an ESB is balance."

Well said my beer advocate friends. Younger's is a wonderful example of an ESB, very balanced. It pours a dark copper, slightly hazy with a small creamy head that leaves a bit of lacing on the side of the tumbler. It smells of sweet malts, caramel and a bit of fruitiness. It has a medium body with balanced carbonation, sweet maltiness, caramel notes on the side of the tongue that play off of the fruit notes and sweetness. Then a pleasantly hoppy finish with a light bitterness that makes you want to take another drink every time you put the glass back down. Outstanding brew overall and one that frequents my fridge.

Rouge is a brewing company that reaches most of the US with their brews and is helping lead the trend towards better beers that stay accountable for themselves. Their bottles not only house their great beers but they give you everything you need to know about the brew you are drinking on the bottle (the ingredients, a message describing them and the beer, tasting notes, food pairings and brewing specs). Another good thing to know about their beers as stated on their website is, "Preservative, additives, chemicals: Never! Rogue does not pasteurize its products." Rouge's motto is that they brew their beers "for the rouge in all of us" which I personally think is awesome.

Thanks for having a beer with me and I hope you had a good time or possibly learned something. Check out Rouge's website if you get the chance because it is by far the coolest/funniest brewer's website I've seen...with a close second being Schlafly because of their funny news feeds that have to do with their founder. But I'll get to them another day.

Cheers!

Once, during Prohibition, I was forced to live for days on nothing but food and water. - W. C. Fields

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