.honeymoon.

.no, not mine, silly.


the beer. this beer. blue moon brewing company's summer ale.

as most people probably know, i am obsessed with love blue moon's regular belgian white. so amazing. so i thought that i would love their honeymoon even more. because, i mean, c'mon - honey? fabulous.

the first time i tried this beer, i hated it. i thought it was far too sweet, and the flavors didn't seem to meld well together.


now that i've had a few more, it has grown on me. it's still a bit sweet, but it is citrusy and light - perfect for a summer day. the hops are pretty weak, but what do i know about hops?


definitely not as good as the regular blue moon, but it will do for these ridiculously hot, humid boston summers.

sigh.

.cheers.

.tanqueray.

.and so continue my sunday sips postings.


on tap today? tanqueray.

it was not until very recently that i began drinking mixed drinks again. although i have occasionally indulged in the various fruity drinks that involve words such as "mango puree" and "muddled sage" and that are served with an orange paper umbrella, my go-to drink for quite some time has been beer. don't get me wrong, there are plenty of awesome cocktails out there, but i think college may have knocked the desire for hard alcohol out of me, at least for a while there.

thankfully, i have come to my senses, and j and i have started keeping a small amount of hard alcohol in our house. don't worry, we're not becoming alcoholics, but it is nice to be able to pour yourself a drink on the weekends occasionally. when we were deciding what liquor we should get, j's choice was whisky, and he decided fairly quickly. i, on the other hand, took a bit more time with my selection. should i go with vodka? no, that just makes me think of santa clara and my poor liver. rum? hmm, potentially, although rum also seems a bit college to me. tequila? no. just, no.

and then i remembered that i enjoy gin. particularly in gin and tonics. actually, not a huge fan of quinine, so it's mainly gin and club soda. and lime. liberal amounts of lime.


apparently quinine was used to prevent malaria, and it was extremely bitter in the 1700s (although i think it still is), so gin was used to cut taste of the quinine. awesome.

anyway, gin and tonics are pretty dang refreshing - cool and crisp - and sipping on these guys makes me want summer to come more quickly.

.cheers.

.celtic ale.

.i'm not an alcoholic, i promise.


but, in the spirit of my friends over at 801 on tap, i'm going to attempt to make sundays my day to review drinks - beer, wine, cocktails, you name it. and, lest you think i'm a complete alcoholic (and if i'm to ever complete number two on my 101 in 1001 list), perhaps i'll try to throw in a nonalcoholic beverage or two. seeing as i am notoriously bad terrible abysmal inconsistent with posting, it may be that this just falls by the wayside. but we'll see how it goes.

and so i present, the first of sunday sips!

*first, let's get this out of the way - i am not a beer connoisseur. nor am i a wine connoisseur or cocktail connoisseur, for that matter. i don't claim to know a great deal about beer, so please excuse my lack of beer knowledge/vocabulary.*

.harpoon's celtic ale.

j and i first came across this lovely beer at o'sullivan's, an absolutely amazing (and tiny) pub/ restaurant about a 5 minute walk from our apartment. it's a hidden little gem, in my opinion. except not quite so hidden because every time we go there, the place is literally packed (the entire restaurant, including the teensy kitchen, could fit into the living room at my dad's old bagley house). anyway, they have amazing burgers, and, while you're waiting for a table, you just stand around, get in the way of the waitresses, and drink beer. generally, i tend to go for lighter beers - i actually love harpoon's ufo, which they also have at o'sullivan's - but one night, the celtic ale just called out to me. and i'm glad it did.

i really like this beer. like most reds that i've tasted, it's a bit on the sweet side, citrusy and hop-y. the flavor is actually really mild and mellow, so for people with an aversion to really strong, bitter beers, this one could be for you. it pours a really deep, pretty red color, with a light tan head. it's pretty smooth going down, and seems really balanced. a good beer overall, i think, and one that i can drink just lazing about on a sunday evening - it's not too heavy so it doesn't fill you up quickly. it also went fabulously with the beef stew that i made for dinner last night.

i was actually surprised that j likes this beer also - he tends to prefer the more hop-y ipas. but i this red is not-so-sweet, so it is acceptable to his palate.


the celtic ale is now harpoon's official spring seasonal beer, so hopefully you'll be able to find it wherever you are. this will be a great way to celebrate st. patty's day!

.cheers.