To Ale or Not to Ale

Greetings my fellow beer girls,
I hope you are out their exploring and enjoying the world of beer. As I have been embarking on my journey in the breakage room, I have tried to come up with the best plan for trying the shelves and shelves of beers....do I do this alphabetically? What about east coast then west coast? Top shelf to the bottom shelf? The back of the room to the front of the room?

Over the past few weeks I have settled on a complete random sampling spree. Maybe it was a great label, maybe it was a beer sample left on my desk (yes this really does happen and it is quite the work perk!), or maybe it was the beer with the odd name that was just calling out to me to try. There is one thing my random quest has brought me to the world of Ales. Before my Breakage Room quest I was a strict Lager girl (yes vanilla is my favorite ice cream and white is my favorite color). I like the predictability of it, I liked knowing that the first taste was going to be like the last, but I am also a Scorpio so I have a daring side as well.

A beer is either a Lager or an Ale, it has to be one of these. You would think that would simplify things, however it doesn't because under each category there are many different styles. Lately I have found myself in the world of Ales, except for my refreshing large Pint of Budweiser draught the other day.

The Ales are quite complex, it is like your Rocky Roads of Ice Cream. Each sip your mouth gets a different taste quite different from the first. It is like a beer with a personality crisis, you think it tastes one way and then the next sip is going to surprise you again.

Now ladies, if you have not explored the world of beer before at all, you may not want to jump right into the Ales. Unless you are a daring type, that chop off your ten inches of long hair before you take those five transitional steps in between - then you are an Ale girl.

Here are some of the Ales I have recently sampled -

If any of you are jsut starting with Ales I highly recommend the Long Trail Ale, it is just a nice easy going beer. This is that "girlfriend" that gets along with everyone and is just easy to be with.

Dogfish head Punkin Ale - Yes, the fall seasonals are already making their way out along with the Halloween decorations and costumes. Dogfish Head is a fun brewery out of Delaware and they brew an assortment of great craft brews. This was one of the ones that landed on my desk, the box it comes in is a flourescent orange so it is impossible to miss on the shelf. I enjoyed this one with pancakes (at dinner not breakfast) and realized that we should drink beer and eat pancakes way more often. For you intermediate to advanced drinkers this is a beer for you.

The next beer that grabbed my attention on the shelf was La Fin Du Monde - Let's face it just a "sexy" name for a beer. This is the flagship beer from Unibroue in Canada, and is a 9% ABV (so I recommend drinking it while sitting down). It has flavors punching in all directions. This is for you advanced drinkers.

So to Ale or not to Ale....I say Do it!