Lindemans Framboise

Popping my lambic cherry (or raspberry in this case).

Appearance - purple red, mostly clear, with a short and creamy head when poured slowly.

Smell - the sweet, pungent smell of raspberries is not quite overwhelming, but the aroma is not as sour smelling as the real thing.

Taste - even better than it smells this beer starts off smooth and sweet. Going down more of the yeast and grains impart a subtle earthiness/woodiness.

Mouthfeel - creamy at first, the carbonation is very fine and gives it a silky texture. The finish is very clean and dry.

Overall - this is a delicious beer, although in no way does it resemble the thought of beer in my head. This is utterly refreshing by itself and would probably pair well with certain foods or desserts. The raspberry flavor is very prominent and for this reason I wouldn't want to drink more than a glass of it. Luckily I had help at the time. 4/5

The Outer Space

Turns out this place has become a great little bar in Hamden, CT. It has a great atmosphere, really great wait staff (I've known them for years), and music all the time. There is also a fenced in porch area where you can drink and smoke outside!

The Outer Space is the sister building to the original Space, an all ages music venue that is infamous for not serving alcohol. The Outer Space is the more attractive sister in that she serves alcohol, particulary beer, and serves particularly GOOD beer. No pictures due to low lighting and my phone's flash being horrible, but consumed on the evening:

• Otter Creek Black IPA - the latest on my black IPA binge, striking a good balance between the bitterness from the hops and the fullness of a dark ale without being too heavy.
• New England Brewing Sea Hag - brewed right down the street from me I felt compelled to support our local brewery. It also supported me with a nice bitter, citrusy, and woodsy flavor.
• Harpoon Leviathan Imperial IPA - although I usually stay away from the strong IPAs (10% ABV) this one wasn't as bad as I feared. Although a little too syrupy for me, it is delicious.
• Blue Point Hoptical Illusion - much better than the American Pale Ale I tried. This is "double hopped" but should be the only way they hop it. Not exceptional, but no slouch either.
• Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout - if you like dark chocolate, you will like this. Nicely alcoholic at 10% which offsets the creamy, heavy texture of the chocolate. Nightly favorite.
• Oskar Blues Dale's Pale Ale (taste) - not sure what any hype around this beer is for.
• Angry Orchard Apple Ginger Cider (taste) - tastes like apple cider beer with a hint of ginger. I'm not really into hard ciders (except Woodchuck Pear) but this is fantastic.
• Lindemans Framboise Lambic (taste) - this defies description. It's like raspberry champagne, except it's beer. A little expensive, but it's a must try. Perfect for New Years celebrations.
• Samuel Smith Organic Raspberry (taste) - also defiant of a description. Raspberry was the flavor of the night and this was very different from the lambic but entirely delicious.

Check out the Outer Space: http://www.theouterspace.net/. They have happy hour 5-7pm every day except Sunday!

Blue Point American Pale Ale

FRESH.

Appearance - nice copper color, a little cloudy, with a strong head and heavy lacing.

Smell - lots of citrus and some floral, pretty sweet and light smelling.

Taste - a little let down by the lack of hoppiness (for my tastes) but the citrusy, woody malt tastes were refreshing. Went great with food (lasagna) probably because of its less intense hopping.

Mouthfeel - pretty light, very fine carbonation made for a velvety feel

Overall - a decent brew although light on the hops, refreshing and good with food but not anything particularly adventurous or exceptional. 3/5

Allagash Black

Batch #34.

Appearance - very dark brown, nearly black. Poured slowly the head is modest but poured more aggressively the head is very large. Not much lacing.

Smell - sweet malty smell with typical Belgian yeast bitter and dry effect, almost like white wine.

Taste - very heavily roasted flavor, like very dark coffee with a slight sweetness. Fruity Belgian yeast flavor on the way down.

Mouthfeel - not light but not heavy, coats the mouth with a residual syrup feel.

Overall - this is much better at a lukewarm temperature (~55F-65F) than straight out of the refridgerator (~40F). At colder temperatures the sweet character of the malts is overshadowed by the bitter (almost sour) flavors from the yeast. 3/5

Harpoon Vermont Spruce Tip

#39 of the 100 Barrel Series.

Appearance - golden caramel colored, good head that laces nicely.

Smell - roasted malt flavors, a hint of citrus from the hops and a subtle pine sweetness towards the end.

Taste - strong roasted flavor with definite caramel flavor, not very bitter from the hops and the pine aftertaste is refreshing.

Mouthfeel - slightly creamy at first, but a clean finish.

Overall - a solid offering from Harpoon, much better than their mass produced brews, would definitely drink again. 4/5

The Alps

The End

Back in the States now. I got picked up at the airport by my friend Chris Markle and stayed with him the night of the 23rd. We got right to work making food and other supplies for the Jets-Giants tailgate and game the next day. Tailgating is about the most American thing possible, so different from my impression of Italian life after my trip. It's no wonder people are in awe when they come here. Everything is HUGE:

Food (obesity?)

Cars (gas guzzlers), buildings (pretty cool), and parking lots (which there were hardly any of in Italy).

All things considered, this was a great trip. I encourage anyone who has the opportunity to go to Europe, South America, Asia, Africa, the Pacific, Antarctica... Travel because the world is full of different and amazing things! I want to go back to Europe some time after I graduate and before I start working. If you're seriously interested, let me know!

Last Hurrah

The last supper. In Italy for us that is. Went to a small place called Ristorante Settimio. Started off with some bruschetta on toast and a cheese plate with walnuts.

My last plate in Italy, and it did not disappoint. This was the best restaurant, and this was the best meal from the entire trip. Roast lamb and potatoes. Indescribably delicious, juicy, tender, flavorful. The meat came right off the bone, no knife necessary.

Thank you Italy. I can't wait to come back.

There isn't much more, but for a couple more pictures: https://picasaweb.google.com/118239697569233938659/RomeNight2?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCOGSg7HihvSVWA&feat=directlink

More Rome

Saint Peter's Basilica, from the outside.

Saint Peter's Basilica, from the inside.

Pictures cannot capture the luxury or scale of this building.

This was holy.

Lunch. Frutti di mare risotto.

Saint Peter's from far away, down a very straight street.

The inside of the Pantheon. Look similar to the Vatican Musem? Except about one thousand years older.

A "donation" from the Byzantine Empire to the Catholic Church... I'm skeptical about the donating part.

For many more pictures from Saint Peter's and Rome:https://picasaweb.google.com/118239697569233938659/RomeDay2?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCMfu_9KqvqWt9QE&feat=directlink

Vatican Museum

Talk about masterful.

Salvador Dalí.

Really old floor tiles.

A hall full of tapestries of Biblical scenes and regions of Italy. This went on for a long, long way.

An occulus. Curiously similar to the one in the Pantheon (pagan church) from later today...

 Snake attack.

One of many rooms with paintings literally everywhere.

Not surprisingly, the real draw to the musem and perhaps one of the most famous artistic endeavours ever, the Sistine Chapel, cannot be photographed.

For many more photographs from the Vatican Museum: https://picasaweb.google.com/118239697569233938659/VaticanMusemRomeDay2?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCM7Cj7Wtq7Of1QE&feat=directlink

Nightly Rome

Battey recharged, we begin wandering Rome looking for cool things. And restaurants.

A fountain and a sidewalk full of people. Just out of the frame was an Italian gospel choir singing Christmas songs. Festive!

To start, what else? Cheese plate, this time over arugula. Another great flavor combination from the Italians.

While no bad food was bad on the trip, this one was one of the best dishes I had. Roast pork, pretty sure it was the leg. Roast potatoes on the side. Seasoned with salt, pepper, rosemary, and olive oil. Nothing exotic or complicated, just good ingredients and huge flavor.

The Trevi Fountain at night. Totally better with some illumination and a long exposure.

For more pictures of Rome at night: https://picasaweb.google.com/118239697569233938659/RomeNight1?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCPTHnfH8i4uDvAE&feat=directlink

Prima Roma

The Coliseum. Damn this was epic.

Self explanatory.

Ruins from the Forum near the Coliseum.

The largest buildings in Piazza Venezia. Rome must have impressed people to no end back in the day. It's still an immense and imposing place.

The Trevi Fountain, a Roman icon.

On the whole, most of my pictures came out over or under exposed because of intense sunlight and shadowing today. The weather has been phenomenal after a couple of days of rain early on, but without a polarizing lens it can be tricky to get good shots. Then my battery ran out so I only got about half a day of shots.

For more pictures from the first of Rome: https://picasaweb.google.com/118239697569233938659/RomeDay1?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCI-DvMXi29DlDQ&feat=directlink

Ultimate Florence

Major Italian cities all have churches. Some churches have domes. The church with the largest dome in each city is referred to as just Il Duomo - the dome. This is Il Duomo in Florence, second biggest only to St. Peter's in Rome.

Some brutal people spearing and man eating demon action at the lowest part of the dome. I found this much more interesting to look at than all of the angels and saints above. For whatever reason, death metal always played in my head when I was in churches. I think this was a Thy Art is Murder day.

I'm not a Satanist or anything like that, so here is the rest of the dome. A heavenly occulus overhead.

An outside view from the top of the dome. 360 degrees of beautiful Florentine countryside.

A big culinary discovery: honey with cheese. The saltier the cheese, the better, but it works with most any hard cheese. Also in this shot is salami with fennel which is extremely tasty. My main dish for lunch was a wholesome risotto that was creamy and light at the same time. Not sure how they pulled that one off.

The Ponte Vecchio at night, a very famous bridge in Florence.

For more pictures of the last night in Florence: https://picasaweb.google.com/118239697569233938659/FlorenceDay4?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCLronKSnk_LArwE&feat=directlink

Siena Break

From Florence we took a bus to Siena, another old city that still has medieval walls surrounding it. From high up, this is one of the views. A great sunny, clear day made this spectacular.

That good view didn't come for free, we had to climb up and down this tower, one narrow, spiralling staircase all the way. At 88 meters, this is the second tallest tower of its kind.

Pictures can't really do this place justice so here's another one. Alps (I think) in the distance. Siena is elevated in comparison to the surrounding lands, good for medieval warfare...

Lunch break. Assorted meats including, salami, Italian bacon, ground chicken liver and beef gall bladder. A little unusual but a local delicacy. Veal for the main course and a caramel custard for desert.

Historically, Siena and Florence have waged war for an eternity. The two city-states fought for control of the Tuscan region for centuries, and there is still a great deal of pride and bitterness involved with this past conflict. At lunch in Siena, we mentioned to our waiter we were staying in Florence. He looked agitated and wasn't as friendly after that.

Of course, Siena has a church. Although unfinished, it has the second largest dome only to Saint Peter's in Rome.

Later that night, we went to the Enoteca Italiana, basically a wine library that is maintained by the national government. A great idea... Can we start a beer library?

For more pictures of Siena: https://picasaweb.google.com/118239697569233938659/Siena?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCJLF_Iy1jpPHaw&feat=directlink