Greg's Best Beer Moments of 2005

2005 was the year of beer for me. In February I began homebrewing at the Abbey with my friend Callaway. This only heightened my curiosity about the great beers of the world, and resulted in a yet another sphere of liquid refreshment that I have become highly snobbish about (coffee and tea happened earlier).

I'm currently drinking the Unibroue Edition 2005 as the drink of choice to carry me over into 2006. This may be one of the best beers I've had last year. But I am thinking now about the best beer experiences I had in 2005. Here's what readily comes to mind:

10. Guinness at Fado's on St. Aidan's Day. Fado's has the best Guinness in town, and the Abbey-dwellers and a few extra friends had a couple of rounds whilst I took the honor of telling Aidan's story.

9. Old Stock Ale from North Coast Brewing Co. at Callaway's birthday party. Callaway had aged this strong ale for an extra year and shared it with me and his girlfriend Leslie, saying "you two have had the greatest impact on my life this past year." An honor not to be held lightly.

8. Smithwick's on St. Patrick's Day. This is a pretty good red ale, but the main thing was telling my friend Tim why Patrick meant so much to me. The next day he told me, "you know, after what you told me last night, St. Patrick's Day is one of my favorite holidays."

7. Kolsch homebrew. This was our first homebrew and man did it taste fine! I particularly remember having a few co-workers over and trying it out together. I haven't felt that much pride since Connor's birth. Needless to say, we were hooked on homebrewing.

6. Several special selections chosen for a reclusive night on St. Martin's Day. You can real all about it here.

5. Our first homebrewed Abbey single. Callaway and I had just begun trying all-grain recipes and this came out brilliantly! I felt like an authentic monk. The best beer we've made so far.

4. The Czar by Avery Brewing with Sean on the deck of the Abbey in March. We were both new to heavy beers, and we probably felt the effects more than we were counting on. But more importantly, we had a great conversation -- the kind that deep friendships are built on.

3. Chimay Blue at the Draught Haus. Chris surprised me with the news that he and Jenny were pregnant. I rushed to the bar and bought a bottle of Chimay's finest and we celebrated the news with gusto. Greer showed up late and announced that it was his birthday -- so we had to but another special brew for the toast...

2. Chimay White at the Dog and Duck. It was Maundy Thursday, so I bought a round of classy brew for my co-worker friends (and Sean) and told them that this was my way of washing their feet. Possibly the most vulnerable act I made all year (had to be there).

1. Pubcrawling in Portland with my beloved wife, Jolie. Portland has more breweries per capita than any other city in the world, and we didn't even scrape the surface on our vacation. Still, it was great to share fantastic northwestern beer with my best friend. Highlights were the Rogue Public House and the tour of Widmer Brewery.