Sierra Nevada Brewery in Chico CA offers a sampler of their finest. It comes served on a plastic tray with paper place mat not unlike the McDonald's tray. The place mat has 15 spots for beers and each is described within the circular designator.

The rating system I used on the low end are adjectives next step is 'meh' followed by one underline and top honors is a double underline.

the format--Beer Name (my rating): the brewery provided description

Draught Style (underline): is our popular draft style version of the classic Pale Ale. Lighter in flavor and a little less robust than our bottled Pale Ale, the Draught Style Ale is very Drinkable, yet flavorful ale.

Pale Ale (meh): is a delightful example of the classic Pale Ale style. It has a deep amber color and an exceptionally full bodied, complex character. The Fragrant bouquet and spicy flavor are the result of our generous use of the finest Cascade hops.

Porter (Double underline): is a delicious, dark colored, medium-bodied ale made with roasted malted barley. It has a creamy head, and a very rich, yet very smooth, malty flavor.

Stout (Double underline): is a very Creamy and full-bodied example of this traditional ale style. Very dark and very, very rich, the Stout boasts of a pronounced roasted flavor. (I bought a six of Porter and one of Stout for a taste test earlier in the summer I remember the stout having a sour after taste that grew as you got towards the middle of the bottle to a detrimental level--making the Porter a better beer. I need to retry this and make sure that my memory serves me correctly)

Bigfoot (yuck. (It originally rated an onion from someones burger so that I wouldn't drink the rest of it--the onion actually helped)): Barleywine Style Ale is an award-winning example of the English barleywine-style ale. It boasts a dense, fruity bouquet; an extremely rich, intense bittersweet palate; and a deep reddish-brown color. This ale is superbly balanced between an almost overpowering maltiness and wonderfully bittersweet hoppiness.

Celebration Ale (meh): A time-honored tradition of brewing a special beer for the holiday season. Using generous portions of barley malts and whole hops, we create a brew with a full rich and hearty character. The tradition of dry-hopping adds a delicate bouquet which balances this rich fullness.

Torpedo Extra IPA (single underline): Torpedo is an assertive American IPA deep reddish-gold in color, with a smooth and bready malt presence and over-the-top hop aromas. The beer has a solid bitterness and a massive hop flavor, yet remains easy drinking with a pleasant dry finish.

Anniversary Ale (Single underline): Sierra Nevada's new seasonal offering is an American style IPA with intense pine and citrus hop aroma. Well Balanced malt profile with a crisp hop note finish.

Limb and Life (not served): Chestnut colored and medium bodied. This beer has malt flavors reminiscent of roasted coffee combined with pronounced hoppiness from the use of experimental hops. This is an easy drinking "session beer". [sic] This is a special collaborative brewing effort between the Sierra Nevada Brewing Co and Dogfish Head Craft Brewery.

Extra Special Pale (meh): Extra Special Pale. We took our Pale ale recipe and dry-hopped it! This addition of fresh unkilned hops in the fermenters give the ESP a huge flowery nose. This beer has pleased the brewmaster so much that it should become a seasonal offering. (Erica liked this one)

Brown Ale (double underlined): A traditional nut-brown ale using the renowned British aromatic hop- East Kent Golding. Medium bodied, slightly dry but a dark and very flavorful ale.

Blonde Ale (single underline): Is a wonderful old world style ale from Sierra Nevada. This very light flavored ale is brewed using 50% Maris Otter English malts, Challenger hops from England and Styrian Golding hops from Slovenia. A very refreshing brew for the coming of spring.

Crystal Wheat (H20): Brewed using a mix of 65% wheat malt and 35% barley malt. This filtered wheat beer is light blonde in color, Light [sic] bodied and has a wonderful drinkability. Our Brewmaster is very proud of this light ale and recommends this beer for novices to craft brewed beers and aficionados alike.

Kellerweis (bacteria): Kellerweis is a light and refreshing beer with deep complexity of flavor. The yeast provides hints of fruit flavors and spices, including ripe banana and clove. This hazy-golden beer glows with suspended yeast creating a velvety texture perfect for a sunny California day. (I often classify Weises as tasting like compost, or what compost smells like, this weis is one of the least composty I have had)

Harvest Ale (meh): This is a truly unique heavily hopped ale, with a most unusual taste and mouthfeel. It is brewed using fresh un-kilned green hops. This is called wet hopping and was the first example of Its [sic] kind brewed in America. (this tasted more like what anniversary Ale from the bottle tastes like and the Anniversary didn't taste like I remembered--the bar tender might have switched these, which is funny because I thought the stout and porter samples were also switched)

Garden

I am new to USDA zone 8.

Plants I have tried or am trying:

Flowers

• Freesia, planted fall 2008. The spring blooms were fantastic, long lived, and fragrant. Note to self, don't plant them in the same bed as the tulips and daffodils as they will take over and over top.
• Spanish lavender, came with house. self seeding taking over. pleasant scent.
• Paper Whites, came with house. meh
• Tulips, planted fall 2008. streaked, some good color, not as high a success rate as I was expecting.
• Saffron, planted fall 2008. bloomed and produced first season in ground.
• Daffodils, planted fall 2008. bloomed, not as showy as I was hoping, too many freesias in the same bed
• Anemonie, planted fall 2008. several came up only one bloomed.
• Tea Roses, came with house. pruned per the rose club's directions, having strength issues.
• Roses-not tea, came with house. Pruned per the rose club's directions, having strength issues.
• Echenasia, planted fall 2008. two didn't over winter. others have leaves up and first blooms. note to self purchased sampler from "high country gardens"
• Zinnia, spring 2008. only three grew of seed packet sown.
• Cosmos, spring 2008. only one of packet grew. suspect helpers weeded them out.

Veggies (in raised beds unless otherwise noted)

• Sugar Snap Peas, planted winter 08 and 09. good crops. leaf miners in some of them. Note to self, plant along the fence or look into self supporting types.
• Tomatoes
  
• Beefsteak, planted spring 08. Didn't bloom until August, trouble setting due to heat. Never did get any fruit. Note to self, very smoky July and blistering hot August.
• Collard Greens, started January 08, small rosette until fall 08 . Had serious case of aphids. Tasty.
• Basil
  
• sweet: only one plant survived. tasty. summer 08.
• type named after a city in Italy (Genoa?): only one plant survived. hot, tannic flavor, ok mixed with sweet basil.
• Butternut Squash, planted spring 08 started indoors. copious crop. nice flavor.
• Leeks, spring 2008. none germinated.
• Loofah, spring 2008. of six planted, only two survived. picked on fruit too early, horridly bitter flavor. Others made good sponges.
• summer squash spring 2008. killed
• zucchini squash, spring 2008. killed. trying again 2009-put in tree well with regular drip system.
• Cantaloupe, spring 2009. two up or four planted-in tree well with regular drip system.
• hot pepper mix (burpee) spring 2008. one grew. trouble with seedlings (water fail).
• Bell pepper mix (burpee) spring 2008. one plant grew, two fruits, very small 2inches long perhaps.

Fruit Trees

• Fiji apple (?), came with house. good crop.
• navel orange, dwarf, came with house. killed
• lime, dwarf, came with house, might still be alive.
• lemon, dwarf, came wit house. killed.
• Cherry, spring 09, bare root. leafed out.
• pomegranate, spring 09, bare root. had buds at last check, need to check. note to self: sat out of soil in garage for two days.
• grapefruit-ruby. dwarf, spring 08. frost damage, suspect dead.
  

Something Funny This Way Came

This evening Sami, the dainty girly-girl of the cathold, was tearing around in a circle as though she was being chased by her tail. About the third direction change a poo-berry flew from behind her rolled across the carpet and came to rest in the other room.

Think shot put

Instantly the panicked look left her eyes and she settled. After licking, to sooth what ever ruffled hairs remained, she attempted to bury the wayward poo-berry: A difficult task considering the floor is pergo.

Where to begin?

It seems that everyone around me is pregnant. My first nephew was just born, my second nephew/niece is on the way and my cousin Nic's mom recently announced to the family that she was going to be a grandma. She also said that Willy, Nic's brother, was close behind with his new wife. My host-brother is expecting his first and my host-sister just had her second. My friend Dave and other friend Quinn are also expecting.

Whats a person to do? My only hope is that the durable goods I am gifting to all of these babies are hand-me-backed when ever I finally get to that (baby kicking me in the bladder) point in my life.

Before it was babies it was friends marrying off; I went through two full sets of friends in three years due to people marrying and moving off to be with their loved one. Some how wedding presents are cheaper than baby presents. I think its because the couple will actually use the item for years to come where as onesy is only going to be used until the little one out grows it, without ever getting a grass stain on it or snagging it on a fence.

Perhaps I am a bit jealous, but recent baby holding experiments have shown me that if I can't give a fussing baby back, I'll probably go nuts trying to calm it. I have trouble taking care of myself and now a husband who will likely need picking up after once he moves in with me. To add a baby to that mix; it seems like suicide waiting to happen.

Which brings up the perpetual question of what do you mean when your husband moves in? We have been married since July and have only spent weekends and the like together since then. Our longest time together has been this holiday week. The up side is it took us almost 6 months to have our first spat, but the down side is I still don't really know him as anything other than a weekend guest.

His biologic clock has been going off for years and all of the recent additions in our family circle have made it worse for him. Now that his sister has so kindly begun the task of providing the first grandbaby he has lessened the frequency of asking. For a time it was an insistent drone of can we, huh, huh, can we, can we? The house spouse discussion has also gone full circle, before we married he was willing to be the stay-at-home parent, now though he seems to think he wants to be the one that stays at work, which is fine except I am pretty sure I would go stir crazy being with the baby all day, or become a shop-aholic, or develop some other self destructive neurosis. The thought of staying home with a little one feels like a cage that I'll be pacing the perimeter of. At the same time he may be feeling the same way about staying with the kid. Job sharing is an idea, but neither of us is qualified to do the others job. Nor can we really afford to be a one income family.

Not to mention the modern marvel of paying more for food grown in CA while living here than others pay for it after its been trucked to them. The same avocados they charge over a dollar for here can be purchased for 69 cents in Oregon and 99 cents in Utah. Almonds grown and processed in this and neighboring counties $8/lb other places its $4/lb. Apples $1.30/lb for galas, in Oregon $.99/lb. With these prices we need both of our incomes to afford a house and food on the table.


Which brings me back to the baby thought. Granted the little ones don't eat much their first year, but they need new wardrobes and furniture and toys. I'm pretty sure that while practical, a cardboard box with extra t-shirts folded to make a mattress would be frowned on as baby's first bed. I'm not sure how my friends and family are affording their new ones, but I have to say I am impressed. Yes I have heard that no-one can really afford to have a baby, but it would be nice to be able to afford ourselves, financially and emotionally, before adding a little one.