Merry Christmas to Me!!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and got to spend lots of time with the people that make them happy. I know that I did. Amy and I spent the day in Alabama, then returned at about dusk. When we got home, we thought we would drink some spirits and relax a bit. She uncorked some wine and I popped a open bottle that would be perfect for the occasion.

2000 JW Lees 'Harvest Ale' is the beer of the night. I picked this up in Charleston at the Charleston Beer Exchange. If you remember, they have several vintage beers and this one was right up my alley. It poured a robust brown and very clear. I guess nine years is plenty time to clear a beer. I tried to show how clear it actually is in the picture.
It smelled very sweet and also tasted sweet, but not overwhelming at all. It had a very smooth maple syrup/brown sugar quality that hide the 11% alcohol very well. I am going to find another one of those. The Charleston Beer Exchange does ship, so if you want one, call them up. This bottle was not very expensive, only $11 and that is really a great price for a nine year old bottle.

Well, after that one was gone, our friend Dave stopped by to return the dog he borrowed, I mean he was dogsitting for us. We opened up a couple more bottles of great Christmas beers including my favorite, St. Bernardus. While we drank, Amy gave me my last Christmas present on the day.
That's right! She got me a 20 liter (5 gal) American Oak Barrel, so I can oak age some of my homebrewed beers. I have been eyeballing one of these for a while, but never actually bought one. Amy is the best!

I can't wait to use it and I was rambling last night about what I was going to put in it first. Does anybody have any ideas?

Well, I will leave you with a little reminder. Tuesday, we are doing our beer tasting thing again. We still do not have a name, so I will just call it The Tuesday Kick Ass Beer Tasting and Talking Extravaganza! OK, it starts at 6PM. I am going to bring a bomber of 'Racer 5' and Jeremy said he's got a bottle of Russian River,'Blind Pig'. And I have one other small surprise bottle, nothing special.

See you there!