Two Nerd Party

Brewer: Molson Coors Brewing Company
Type: Pale Wheat Ale
Rating: 7/10

I've liked every one of Blue Moon's seasonal ales so far (though I still have yet to try the Harvest Moon, since pumpkin beer kind of scares me.) Honey Moon is brewed with "clover honey, orange peel, pale malt, and malted white wheat", so it has a warm, summery taste. It's not quite as crisp as the Rising Moon, but it's still a nice beer for warm weather.

Source: Allrecipes

I like to eat my bananas pretty ripe. By the time I find them palatable the skin has a healthy sprinkling of black spots, sort of like freckles for bananas. Unfortunately, it's pretty easy to let them get a tad TOO ripe. I use this recipe for when I get overzealous and buy a large bunch of bananas.

This is one that's better done with hand-mixing and baking in the oven, as the ingredients didn't mix properly in my bread machine. I made it this past weekend again and remembered how delicious it is. (Dane and I also like to yell "EXTREME!" at each other when making this.) I do make some modifications:

- Use half applesauce and half butter (makes the bread fluffier)
- Use half brown sugar and half white sugar (makes it less painfully sweet)
- Add 1 tsp of baking powder
- Add 1 tbsp of vanilla extract
- Add 1 tsp of cinnamon

Brewer: Duvel Moortgat
Type: Belgian Abbey Double
Rating: 5/10

The first two thoughts that came to mind were: "Wow, this smells like barley. And...it tastes like barley." Oddly enough I didn't taste the higher alcohol content that much (I suppose it was overpowered by the heavy barley flavor). I enjoyed it, but probably wouldn't drink more than one every now and then. This wasn't really my style.

Company: The Steeping Room
Type: Flavored White

I have very little experience with white teas. The only kind I've tried before this was a commercial brand of flavored white in teabags. Getting a loose-leaf white made a huge difference in taste. The commercial brand was somewhat weak, and the flavoring overpowered the tea. In contrast, the loose-leaf had a nice flavor, similar to a very mild green tea (as I would expect). The goji berries smell a bit like strawberries, but are not nearly as sweet. I imagine it might even be good iced.

Here's my rating scale for beer. At some point, I'll come up with one for food.

The scale goes from 1 to 10, with 1 being bad and 10 being good. Ratings 3-7 are based on party experience.

7 means that after coming home in the afternoon, I'd happily open one of these beers and have it with dinner, or by itself. At a party, I'd like to start with a 7, both to get me into the "party mood" (I'll probably drink it fairly quickly), and because later on I might not be able to enjoy its more subtle flavors. A 7 has an excellent flavor and is easily drinkable. The Shock-Top I just rated is a 7.

A 3 is at the other end. At this point, the party's gone past its peak, one or two party poopers have already gone home (but I of course haven't noticed), and I'm in very high spirits and trying to sustain that. I don't really care what I drink, as long as it's got some kick and doesn't taste like a penny in the sewer. PBR might be a 3.

You can probably extrapolate the remaining values from that. Steel reserve is probably a 2 (doesn't meet the penny-in-the-sewer requirement). I can't think of any 8+ beers off the top of my head. I don't like giving anything in the far extreme; I expect to meet a 1 or a 10 maybe once every few years. Both 1 and 10 beers must be truly amazing: they are unique and outstanding in their own ways.

Keep in mind that beers rated below 5 aren't necessarily bad, just as beers rated above 5 aren't good in all situations. Every beer has its place. As I mention above, some beers belong at the beginning of a great party, and some belong somewhere in the murky, blurry shadowy depths at the end.