A Poem, A Story, Another Season upon us.

1. Sly Fox Brewing Standard Porter (D)-Handpump
2. Weyerbacher Brewing Co. Double Simco IPA (D)
3. Coronado Brewing Co. Mermaids Red (D)
4. Sixpoint Brewing Co. Righteous Ale (D)
5. Bierbrouwerij De Koningshoeven B.V. La Trappe Quadruple (D)
6. Brasserie Lefebvre Blanche de Bruxelles (D)

7. Avery Brewing Co. IPA (D)

8. Lost Abbey Brewery Avant Garde (D)

9. Ithica Beer Co. Flower Power IPA (D)

10. Victory Brewing Co. Wild Devil Ave (B)

11. Elysian Brewing Co. Avatar Jasmine IPA (B)

12. Founders Brewing Co. Dirty Bastard (B)

13. Cigar City Jai Alai

14. Green Flash Hop Head Red

"Smoke hangs like haze over harvested fields,

the gold of stubble, the brown of turned earth

and you walk under the red light of fall

The scent of fallen apples, the dust of threshed grain

The sharp, gentile chill of fall.

Here as we move into the shadows of autumn

The night that brings the morning of spring

Come to us, Lord of Harvest

Teach us to be thankful for the gifts you bring us..."

**Autumn Equinox Ritual

I love the change of seasons, but losing the summer's heat and the hours of light into the 9 o'clock hour becomes harder to do without. Whether it is through the autumn imagery that is ignited by the prose that started this blog post, or just knowing that a pumpkin ale has just been tapped, I guess that you can find bits of love any time of year.

These past two weeks had me sampling some great styles of beer. I often devote entire posts to IPAs and stouts, but, fortunately, family and friendly places offered me their harvest. Porters, Double IPAs, Reds, Ryes, Belgians and Scotch Ales all, thankfully, fell into this list.

Here's the tale of La Trappe. It's big. It's a quad and it's way too drinkable. Jules and I were at Terrace Taproom a few weeks back when this beer was on. It was a Wednesday night. We were only looking to enjoy a beer or two. But there it was. I put down my finished pint of Mermaid's Red, and through the lacing across the glass, the Trappist tap actually smiled at me. I said to myself, "No." And as I was about to order another, and the bartender says, "La Trappe is a bad motherfucker," Jules says, "I'll have one." And that was it. It poured a beautiful dark amber into a pretty sweet chalice. Toasty malts laced with sweet fruits. I figured 10%, I'll sip it for an hour. It's a ten minute walk home and it's early. It was a nice end of the night drink.

There were no dragons slayed that night. Nor were any moats to crossed.

Cheers for now.