NotJustWine.com

The first time that I tasted a Dos Equis was in 2000 in Cancun on my Senior Trip.

We were the only group of “kids” on Senior Trip who didn’t have chaperones and when the van from our hotel came to pick us up, they brought coolers full of ice and beer. How’s THAT for airport shuttle service?

There were two options in those huge coolers: Corona and Dos Equis. I had heard of Corona [my uncle used to say that Mexicans piss in Corona] but had never heard of Dos Equis so I chose it since I didn’t feel like drinking urine that early in the day.

I’m not a lover of beer. The taste of it doesn’t appeal to me and I can get a bigger bang for my buck by drinking liquor but I LOVE Dos Equis.

“Regular” beer seems watered down to me and if it doesn’t have frost on the bottle then don’t even hand it to me. By the time I get halfway done with the bottle, it’s gone lukewarm and I pour it out. Not the case with my green bottle of goodness.

Also, for me, taste memory is just as strong as scent memory and while I sit here typing this [and drinking my Dos Equis] I can’t help but remember back to that Senior Trip and dancing on a bar in Mexico.

Good times, guys. Good times.

On Thursday I joined the fabulous Rannie Turingan and b5media’s own Accordian Guy, Joey DeVilla for a night of beer tasting, photos and laughter at The Air Canada Centre. Hosted by Molson and organized by the lovely Meghan Warby, I didn’t anticipate the night that started at a little before 6 to go so late…but to my delight the time flew by as we all got to know a little more about beer.

Before the seminar began, I started with a Rickard’s White, which I quickly learned works extremely well with citrus. Simple and palatable gets a surprisingly major boost from a slice of orange, boosting it from ‘good’ to super tasty.

The menu for the night:

Canadian with Grilled Chicken Skewers
Coors Light with Hamburger Sliders
Heineken with Sweet and Sour Fried Oysters
Rickard’s Red with Steak Satay w/ Onion Soubise
Rickard’s White with Grilled Shrimp w/ Orange Sauce
Corona with BBQ Duck Tacos
Creemore Springs Lager with Smoked Brat on Potato pancake w/ Tomato Jam

The result:

Once satiated/cheerful/tipsy drinks blogger.

The Canadian was a nice place to start and the chicken was delicious. The Hamburger Sliders stole the show when it came to the Coors Light. They were so amazing I could forgive the beer their paired with for being a far less remarkable choice. Heineken is a purpetual favorite of mine - so it wasn’t surprising to me when this little glass was done right quick. The Oysters weren’t so bad either.

The Rickard’s Red paired nicely with the steak, but I was far happier to go back to the Rickard’s White (even if the shrimp were too lime-y for my taste). Corona…always another excellent choice. And I enjoyed the tacos very much even if the sour cream to taco ratio was a wee high. The Creemore was also delightful as usual. Not sure how, but by some miracle I found room for the Bratwurst…and they didn’t disappoint.

So what else did we learn from this evening of fine food, great beer and brewery education?

Beer is tasty. Okay, fine I already knew that. But this just reminds me that there are other (more upscale) ways to pair beer than gross greasy nachos.

Ads for beer are lies. At least the photos are. The ridiculous amounts of froth spilling all over the place is unreasonable…more appropriate is about a dime-size of head.

The glass you use makes a difference. clean, cool, room temperature. Oils from your hands or any dishwashing soap residue is going to mess up the glass and result in a less than tasty beverage.

[Images: Rachel Segal]

These are probably one of the tastiest, most dangerous drinks in the world. Introduced to me by fellow b5media’er, Tris Hussey, (he learned it from a friend named Linzy), I’ve now taught two different bars this drink.

People shudder when I describe it to them, imagining something that’s just too over the top, and yet, once they have it, they realize exactly how good these really are.

We were at the Kingston Hotel (the scene of the crime from the night of the Cold War Shots) and taught the bartender how to make these:

Essentially, you take a Corona, and very very carefully pour 1 ounce of tequila into the neck of the bottle. To serve, balance a lime carefully on top of the bottle.

In preparation to drink this concoction, squeeze some of your lime juice into the neck of the bottle. It should end up looking like this:

If you’ve got it right, you can actually see where the tequila ends and the beer begins.

Finally, the best part. The Drinking part.

Much like doing a shot of tequila, you’ve got to shoot the first ounce, but it’s like tequila that comes with a built in chaser! There’s none of that sort of coughing, burning sensation that so many people get from tequila.

The rest of the beer will have a bit of lime and tequila flavour which is really quite nice.

Warning however, one friend while drinking them said they were “soooo good!” and then the next day he commented that they weren’t good, they were “effective”. These are dangerous drinks.

I know these go by other names as well. If a Baja Fog tastes as sweet to you by another name, let me know in the comments!

(slightly shaky video footage courtesy moi, both images courtesy Tris Hussey)

Man, it’s a good thing that I am my own boss. I have this uncanny knack of going out on on a “school night” and staying out far later than I should. Far far too late, with far far too much alcohol.

Last night was no exception.

Jeremy Wright, the head honcho for b5media (aka Capt. Fancy Pants) was in town. Tris came over from Victoria, and we met Jeremy and started drinking at about 3 pm. Give or take. Everything was fine until we moved bars.

I knew I was in trouble when I opened my big mouth and said, like the cocky woman I am, “Is that a challenge?” to Jeremy when he mentioned I was behind.

Two shots of Patron later, I was “caught up”. And then, out came the “b5 shots”. They’re technically called Cold War shots in North America, but they’ve been re-christened as the Official b5 Shot. Why? Because Jeremy said so, that’s why.

I knew we were in trouble when he ordered the table 12 shots complete with Corona chasers.

To enjoy your very own b5media shots, take 2/3 of an ounce of Stoli Vodka, (and yes, it has to be Stoli. If you don’t use Stoli, it won’t work properly. No idea why, that that’s the case) and 1/3 an ounce white sambuca. Pour them into a shot glass and serve. Don’t do anything fancy, don’t chill the vodka, don’t shake them, stir them or anything. The instant you start mucking around with them alcohol, the shot goes cloudy and then you’ve ruined it (and then it tastes disgusting, or so I’ve been told).

The shot is surprisingly smooth, and the vodka and sambuca cancel each other out and neither of them has that sharpness that marks each of the spirits on their own.

Just be forewarned, especially if you’re drinking with anyone from b5, we’re hardcore, and we take our alcohol very very seriously.

(photo credit: Tris Hussey)