I like beer, and I like cool-looking cans

so it makes sense that I like this beer in a cool-looking can!  It is well-known in certain circles that beer and wine stores in the 5-mile radius around my home sell their beer at very high prices.  Last week I discovered exactly how much one of the stores I used to frequent has been ripping me off.

Now, this beer store has been on my naughty list for some time.  When I discovered the quality of the Sam Adams Latitude 48 IPA and bought a case a winter ago, the owner raised the price of that particular Sam Adams 6-pack from a respectable $8.49 to an expensive $9.99.  This fall, when I began buying beers from Widmer Bros. brewery, the price per 6-pack across all products from the brewery went from $8.99 to $10.99 within a week of my purchase.  Another favorite of mine, Raging Bitch, went from $8.99 to $10.99 after I bought a case.  I was willing to put up with this, however because the owners are super- friendly and would occasionally give me promotional materials like pilsner glasses and snifters, and a complimentary bottle of a new beer to try every so often.  He even gave me a 6-pack of Clipper City Hop3 (marked at an above-average-market $10.49) when I won his challenge to pick National Bohemian from MGD and Schlitz in a blind taste test.  While I'm complaining, Natty Boh sells for an outrageous $4.49 per six-pack in his store.

At any rate, I bought Brew Free or Die from this store at $15.99 per 6-pack for a July 4th party.  I figured that it cost so much because it was hard to get in MoCo. I really liked the beer, but never bought it again because I like other beers much better at that price point.  Imagine my surprise last week when I saw the beer at $8.99 a six-pack at Corridor!  I bought a case and have enjoyed a can or two this week.  I have sworn never to visit Mr. Price-gouger again, and now that the ICC is open, I may have to make the trip to corridor once a month.  With beer prices the way that are in my hood, the toll will be more than worth it.

As for the beer, it is a very good IPA.  Hoppy, but well-balanced with strong maltiness.  7% ABV.  And there's something about a can.  Perhaps it takes me back to my college days, or fishing trips, or maybe I'm just a lazy-ass and it's lighter, but I really like drinking beer out of a can.  And what a can!  Abe Lincoln punching out of Mount Rushmore?  It just makes me happy every time I look at it...

That is all.

Maybe not all... The other beers I have tried from this brewery, 21st Amendment,  were called Back in Black, a "Black IPA", and Hell of High Watermelon.  Both are not good, ether at the $8.99 or $15.99 price point.

Woks and other thoughts...

For my birthday last year, my wife gave me a cast iron wok.  I love it - it is among my favorite pieces of cookware.  I cook everything in it - stir-frys, curries, stews, deep-frying, even risotto!  I'm sure that the gift was given because of my obsession with the recently-uncovered family cast-iron pans that I've had in a box since before any interest in cooking.  I have found these skillets (and now wok!) to be extremely versatile, and while I can understand that French cuisine emphasizes delicate sauces, and that we all need to boil pots of this and that, I feel that cast iron is too-often overlooked in favor of stainless steel and calphalon.  Plus, there is the history.  I have placed two of my cast iron pieces as pieces from the 1940's or earlier.  That means they were used by my grandparents, if not my great-grandparents!  I can only hope that the wok makes it that long.

At any rate, this is an eggplant curry made in the wok.  It was pretty good, made using the red curry paste I got at the asian grocery.

That is all.