Merry Adventures

Tim and I sometimes go on merry adventures, and yesterday was such an occasion. Beer and Cheese Tasting! MMMMmmmm. We checked out a beer tasting at the King Farm Wine Shop. "The Reverend," Avery Belgian Style Quadruple Ale (whatever that means), a great tasting ale, ended up going home with me. One of the beers offered, "Oak Aged Yeti," Great Divide Imperial Stout was a very dark and thick liquid, which the beerista termed "motor oil." Truer words were never spoken, a very strange brew, indeed.

We hit the Safeway next door. This is one of those upwardly mobile Safeways, not the type of store you're going to find in downtown Wheaton. I go to a store like this and almost wish I lived in King Farm, except it's such an ugly and barren place (IMHO). Every home is choc-a-bloc the next. And some of those suckers are huge! Who's going to clean house? Oh, if we could only switch Safeways.

Then off to Olney to Olney Beer and Fine Wine. I call our trips merry adventures, because they usually involve getting lost, at least once. There is no painless way to get from King Farm to Olney during Friday rush hour. Technology rescued us. I used my Blackberry® to chart a course, using it's built-in GPS. Wow! I love this gadget! We got lost in a parking lot in Olney, and sure enough, my Blackberry rescued us.

Those folks in Olney sure know how to impress retired gay men. They had some really great beer (Tim and I each bought a bottle of Jubilee Ale, celebrating the Queen's staying power (so, so Gay!) - the last bottles in the store, a great stealth maneuver on our part. The ale has a pronounced sherry taste. It's been on the shelf for six years, and will turn bad. So I have a to drink it....

The beeristas here were young, speaking with a practiced (rote-like) experience. But I guess that's how you learn, very earnest, but friendly, and with good advice.

The store also paired some excellent English cheeses with the English (or English-like[?]) beers, with some pâté to top it all off. MMMmmmmm. So I ended up bringing home beer, pâté, salami, and cheese.

I have to point out that both stores feature some knock-your-socks-off prices, so bring credit cards, rather than cash. The Olney store also features a wine-by-the-taste, -half-glass, or -glass Enomatic Machine. Whoa. This machine is cool. You purchase a debit card, then you drink. One of the wines being offered with this metallic sommelier, was $83 a glass. We didn't partake (but we thought about it).

But wait! Our adventure wasn't over yet. Olney features a Roots Market. We stopped and took a gander. The store features organic, fair trade food. The selection was very nice, and best of all, the store was uncrowded (well, best for us, but probably not too good for business). It's kind of like Whole Foods, only different. It also will take your whole pay check.