Yuleday this friday!

Rather than the obligatory "history of beer" post, which origins can be simultaneously traced back to the Sumarians/Babylonians (Iraq/Iran), Romans, Egyptians, Teutons (Germans), etc. etc. etc., in a very cool 12 monkeys effect I refer to as "God's universal love of all peoples," lets talk celebrations.

The "Alulu" tablet - a Sumerian recipe for "best" beer circa 2050 B.C. (wiki)

Yule Tide is a festival of the winter solstice, of peoples afraid the sun was dying, before witnessing the miracle of its rebirth. It has German, western European, and Scandinavian roots, and though of course those aren't the only countries to celebrate the solstice, they are likely the original countries to do it with lots and lots of beer. In one account of a feast in Valhalla (to the Nords what Olympus was to the Greeks):

An abundance of heavenly mead made from goats' milk and honey was provided for the feasts and on occasions ale, too, was served.

Toasts were usually drunk in honor of Bragi, god of poetry, eloquence, and song. The gods pledged themselves to perform remarkable deeds of courage and valor as they tossed off horn after horn of mead and ale. Each time their mighty valor grew until there was no limit set to their attainments.

Sounds kinda like a drunken festivus, no? Which really is all our Yule celebration aims to be: a drunken pledge "to perform remarkable deeds of courage and valor," usually in the form of tossing off horn after horn of mead and ale. Speaking of which, i need a drinking horn. Any advice on where to find? This has gone off topic but I think we can all agree that'd be preeetty cool.

Happy yule-tide!

It's a tad early...but the deacon has all the ingredients for a delicious spiced holiday ale sitting in and around his fridge, so why not. From the Prose Edda, on the Norse/Germanic origins of our holiday season:

Again we have produced Yule-being's feast [mead of poetry]*, our rulers' eulogy, like a bridge of masonry.

Yule being the god who demanded a massive winter celebration with excessive quantities of honey mead in his honor. If that's not enough to make a man find religion, I don't know what is.

*side note: the vikings word for "poetry" and "alcohol" (mead) was one and the same. Brilliant huh?

Anyhow, in honor of our beer drinking origins (or something like that) I visited Colorado this last week, home of more breweries than any other state in the union. Or so they claim. I also drank at Boulder's original microbrewery (Walnut Brewery), Denver's original microbrewery (Wynkoop) and Colorado's original microbrewery (Boulder Beer Co.), sooooo...on to my notes!

Walnut: Located in scenic downtown Walnut Street, Walnut Brewery just happened to be several blocks from where I parked my borrowed car after a half day skiing, so a burger and some beers seemed necessary while I waited for my friend to get out of class. I'll say straight out, I love breweries that brag of their accomplishments. Vanity, yes, but why brew and enter all these beers for a million different festivals if you're not going to advertise your winnings? Starting with:

Old Elk Brown Ale: Their most esteemed ale, according to my waitress. A Silver Medal winner in the English Brown category at the GAB in 2008, these sweet, malty brown had a chocolate/caramel flavor balanced with earthy Willamette hops and a nice sour bite from the Munich grains. A very classically european brown, with a huge body and full flavor.

Big Horn Bitter: Surprisingly I was onto beer two before my delicious jambalaya came out. Amazing huh? Yes, I impress even myself sometimes. This was another classicaly english style, dark like the old elk but without the sweetness and with the more bittering Chinook hops, providing a classic cool finish. A nice pub ale.

One other cool note about Walnut: I liked that you could see the brewing tanks from the floor, and the individual temperatures each beer was fermenting at (in the low 40s for the lagers, in the 50s and 60s depending on the ale style).

More updates to come from: New Belgium, Wynkoop, and Boulder Beer Co. Season's greetings!