Thursday, April 20, 2006

Scandia

No ride today. But I had a good excuse. Probably the best excuse ever. Free beer. My brother got invited to the Summit Brewing release party for their new beer, Scandia Ale. Belgian beers are not my favorite. They're different and interesting, and I enjoy trying them, but it's rare that I would drink more than one. Summit's version is blander than most I've tried, but I'm not sure whether that's a good thing or a bad thing. It fits with their stated style of a Scandinavian interpretation of a Belgian ale. Scandinavians are known for their bland cooking. The standard joke is that all Scandinavian food is white (lefse, lutefisk, potatoes). I come from a long line of Norwegians and have eaten my fair share of bland, white food.

The beer was definitely drinkable. I had my allotted three mini glasses and wasn't sick of it by the time I finished my third. But at the same time, I wasn't lining up to use my extra token that was given to me by a friendly stranger. I decided I'd rather keep the token as a souvenir than have another. I think my brother's fiance-in-law summed it up best when he said, "It tastes like Blue Moon."

The event itself was strange. It was a lot of people standing around in the great hall at the brewery drinking beer. Not that that's bad, but I wasn't sure what I expected. The even was publicized as being between 6-8pm, but when I got there at 5:40 it was packed. By the time the rest of the guys showed up at 6 and we got our first beer, the buffet table was picked over and never replenished. There was a drawing for doorprizes at 5:45 when I first got there too, but after 6 there was never any official talk or anything. It was like being at a bar. A really great bar with free beer, but not quite what I had envisioned. Don't get me wrong, if I had it to do over again I would do it again. But all in all, the beer, the evening, the everything? Meh.

3 comments:

Aaron said...

I was at the Summit Scandia Release Party as well. Interesting comment about Blue Moon - I'd have to say it's better than Blue Moon, but I'm not that big of a fan of Blue Moon in the first place. Regarding the place seeming a bit weird - it's pretty much the same situation on a normal brewery tour there - just less people and more variety on tap.

annie said...

You were there? Haha, Nate's two sisters were there too! I might have seen you coming out of the building when I went to pick them up... I, however, was not special enough to actually attend the event.

Nathan said...

<napoleon>Lucky!</napoleon>

Blue Moon's all right but I won't drink it cuz of who brews it. It's one of the few beers my wife seems to really enjoy, though, so this sounds just right for us.