I don’t know about you, but when I’m feeling sweaty and bloblike there’s nothing I like more than cracking open a nice brewski. Unfortunately, because I am a beer snob with a fondness for stouts that are black as night and heavier than lead balloons, I usually make all the wrong choices when it comes to cooling off.
That’s why I really like Nikki’s, the beer lovers’ liquor store that’s discreetly tucked into the Shaw’s Plaza at the bottom of Admiral Street on the Providence/North Providence line. You can make your own six packs there, so it’s easy enough to throw in something light and simple with your Norwegian wheat stout and your Brazilian black beer and your Wattle Seed Ale and your Hell And Damnation. Something like, say, a couple of Sam Adams.
The folks at Nikki’s are doing a Sam Adams tasting tomorrow. They’ve got beer reps pimping their wares every Thursday from 5-7, and this week the focus is on the two beers competing for the 2009 Beer Lovers’ Choice Award. One’s a Pilsner and one’s an IPA. Both of which sound substantially simpler than last year’s winner (the Blueberry Witbier), but both of which also sound substantially tasty right now.
Nikki’s is a well kept secret. Although their liquor is pretty expensive, the variety of beers on hand makes up for it pretty well.
The college girl mentality of pounding back as much as you can misses the point of appreciating the brew, its elements and the final presentation.
As resident Kraut, I must add that by law in Germany “bier” is only made with barley malt, hops, water and yeast. They don’t even allow sugar to be added at bottling; instead you have to kreuzen or add unfermented ‘wort’ from a fresh batch to the batch that’s getting bottled.
Wheat? Blueberries? That’s not beer.
BTW, Spaten lager or Oktoberfest is like mother’s milk to us Germans. Since 1397.
Best. Beer. Ever.
I loved that Blueberry Witbier : )
that’s funny, because i can’t pound more than 1 gansett per hour without having the feeling in my stomach like i’m about to give birth to an evil alien baby. for the cheap and watery i prefer the high life, although almost ever damn time i order one i end up singing steve winwood songs in my head for the rest of the night.
The trouble with those high-falootin’ beers like Dark-as-night-Devil-Oat-Nut-Blood-Stout or whatever the fuck those micro-brewers are pushing is that you can’t pound 15-20 of them in a sitting like you can with a Coors(original) or a ‘Gansett. I would never touch a light beer (like having sex in a caonoe – both fucking near water) but if you want to get your drink on you can do it with one of those heavy-ass micro-brews. You feel stuffed after three. Better yet give me a two-four of Canadian or a Blue (from Canada not the imported swill) and I’m all set on a summers day.