Shiner 102 Double Wheat doesn't dubbel the fun

After returning my tux from the wedding, I swung by H-E-B, which I discovered last Christmas, is the bees knees of beer selection in Houston. They have many Texas brews and a noteworthy amount of national craft brews, including a surprising amount from Brooklyn Brewery. They also have a solid selection to build your own 6 pack, which is a novelty to me. I have never seen this in California, New York, Washington D.C. or Utah (4 states I've visited).

I chose an assortment of Texas beer and California beer because ironically, I came to Texas to buy Cali beer because I've never seen it out there. It's called Beer Camp from Sierra Nevada and it's a pretty neat concept that is essentially like winning the Golden Ticket to Willy Wonka's factory:  Sierra Beer Camp. You apply via a video by mid July and in August this year, you and a chosen select travel to Chico, California, and spend a weekend brewing a beer which your group conceived. The flavors available here were a Black Juniper Ale, a California Common, and a Weizenbock. I also picked up two brews from the Real Brewing in Blanco, Texas.

With no time to drink I headed to the Astros game. It's been a while since seeing Minute Maid Park (originally known as Enron Field, not so much anymore). And oh how times have changed. Only two people on the team are hitting greater than .300. The Astros Pitcher had the only RBI for the day, after he cranked the first pitch of his second at bat 367 feet into the right field bleachers. After going ahead 2-0 against the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Astros middle relief blew it. The story of the Astros sad year so far.

Can't complain about the seats though!

Back home I ran outside to play with our yellow lab, Snowball, and within minutes I was soaked. The high today was 96 degrees! And there's bugs in Houston. California has spoiled me so badly that I forgot how nasty it could get even on a beautiful day.

Snowball needed a cool-off pretty quickly, as did I, so I returned to open the Shiner 102.

Even in her old age, ain't she cute?

Shiner's latest anniversary brew is a 6.2% Double Wheat with Saaz and Washington Golding hops, a malted wheat ale. Their first anniversary beer, 101, was a pilsner and was quite delicious (Shiner 101).

It's a slightly sweet and malty, but overall bland. I wonder what kind of yeast they used because it has no banana or clove characteristics of a german hefeweisse or the tartness of an american wheat. As it pangs my heart to rag on my two hometown favorites, this Shiner 102 is as bland as the Astros offensive power. THE ISLAND rating

Left Coast Una Mas celebrates the Table of Glory and it's legend

Thora the explorer is still human-sitting David and I and she's currently reclining in front of the Table of Glory.

Lore has it, that this legendary table was discovered in an ancient fraternity house after it collapsed under the weight of a raging roof party. To those that own it, brings great glorious awesomeness. But with great glory, comes great responsibility. Which means you have to check I.D.'s.

No, not really. David and I built the 1500 beer cap table during our senior year of college. The center G embodies two thoughts; the table of glory, and also the name of David's house that year was "Grandma's House," named by one of their first visitors (me) after I walked in and announced that it smelled like an old lady's mansion. That smell didn't last long. It was a legendary year. It was a non-fraternity house and thousands of beers were drunk there. Legendary.

Too bad Thora's name ain't Gertrude

The table itself is nothing but a piece of work. The design was David's. It's a premiere Beer Pong table and is cut into two halves for easy transportation. There is a triangle on each side, Domestic vs. Foreign, and there are designated water cup spots on each side. My added design touch was the F-Zero like power triangles gracing either side of the triangle. There are even Red Stripe cap'd sight-lines near the G that guide a player's bounce (worth two cups in pong if it's made). It took two days in a poorly ventilated garage and a lot of brain cells for David and I to glue the caps down and fasten a plexiglas top to the board. I have never had a worse headache after that experience.

David and I didn't live together than, and I used to drive through Malibu Canyon (20mins each way) late at night during study breaks just to play a round or two of beer pong and shoot the shit around the Table O' Glory. It's a table that holds a lot of history and memories. Unfortunately, one of our friends left it out in the rain and the wood warped (grrrr). It was retired to the museum that is our living room, still full of beauty and dark secrets.

We continue our exploration of the Left Coast beers with Una Mas, a 6.4% amber ale. Not a lover of the ambers (a bit racist I am), and right off there's an off putting bold nutty aroma. But the taste, is actually decent for my least favorite beer. As a beer warms, the body opens up and the flavors come out. This beer is really cold. I should've realized this a long time ago, but I should have all my ambers cold. It'd be so much more enjoyable. Duly noted. ARMAGEDDON rating. 

Hoptopia Double IPA

Kamari, my adopted dog child for the weekend, and I waited for Walker
right up until 1150, almost had to go it alone. I was excited to try
this double IPA because it's one of my favorite styles. Hoptopia is a good
variation, there's a mellow sweetness that settles in after the
typical bitter taste of a strong IPA. Walker has decided he doesn't
like this beer, but he's probably just jealous that Kamari likes me
more than him.

This beer is Jack Nickolson in as Good As It Gets. A (double) bitter
curmudgeon that is actually kinda nice once you get to know the guy.