BWBB

Hey everyone,

So, life is getting pretty busy all of a sudden. Lots of things going on for both C and I...but, you know that isn't stopping me from still posting an awesome Bi-Weekly Beer Blog!

This week's featured beer is from Longmont, CO (the same city as Left Hand Brewery). The brewery is called Oskar Blues, and the beer is called Gubna Imperial IPA. I have seen Oskar Blues name around a bit more recently, but have never tried any of their beer. It is sort of a novelty that they sell all their beers only in cans. I'm not sure how I feel about that or if I am able to fully support it, but I figured what the heck.

After our awesome dinner on Friday night, C and I went to this little bar near our apartment. The bar had a relatively decent beer list, but the descriptions were pretty minimal. I saw "Oskar Blues Gubna - an imperial IPA" and figured I would give it a try. Now, I understand that an imperial tends to be higher alcohol content and somewhat bitter, but Gubna was crazy in both these respects. When the can came, I noticed it was 10% abv! That is approaching dangerous territory. But you know me, and I pushed through...haha.

I will say that this beer certainly does a good job of disguising its high alcohol content. Gubna goes down really smooth. It also has some really distinct hoppy smells and a real hoppy flavor, as to be expected from an IPA. One of the surprising things about this IPA though is the large amount of bitterness. Most IPAs are not known for their bitterness, but Gubna really has a good combination of hops and bitter. It worked surprisingly well for me. Oskar Blues' website claims that the beer has a "citrus blast." I'm not sure I would call it a "blast" but citrus is definitely one of the flavors that is present. If I had one complaint, it would be the lack of any real floral or citrus. The hops and bitterness kind of overwhelms all the other flavors.

Gubna definitely has me interested in trying some of Oskar Blues' other brews. If I find them, I will make a note of it on the blog. Have any readers seen or tasted this or other Oskar Blues' beers before? I'd be interested to get a second opinion. Overall, I would give Gubna 8 pint glasses out of 10. I'm not sure I could drink more than one/two, but it's definitely a beer I would have again. I was really happy with my purchase. (I should also note that I paid $6 for a can. So certainly not cheap, but worth the price in my book.)

Well, I believe that's all for now! I did want to mention that C and I ate dinner at Bacchus on Friday, and it was phenomenal! I would recommend it to anybody.

Thanks for reading folks. As always, I welcome both related and unrelated comments...haha.

Until next blog, be good and do good.

Jon

World Cup Final Preview

Hey folks!
After 63 games, it all comes down to Spain versus the Netherlands for the 2010 World Cup. This should be an epic match between two nations that are both desperate to win their first world cup. It's almost impossible to believe that neither of these two soccer powerhouses has ever won the world cup. Obviously, a huge deal to both countries.

Any regular reader of the blog knows that I am a big Spain fan. Aside from the US, Spain is my team, and David Villa has been my guy for a number of years now. (Villa gets the honor of being the face of this blog.) BUT, I am going to try to be completely impartial in this preview....we will see if I succeed, haha.

Tomorrow's game should be a battle between two attacking teams. Interestingly though, both the Netherlands and Spain have very solid defenses that are physically imposing. For example, in Spain's last match again Germany, Spain really worked the ball well and created many chances. However, they were unable to score until the 73rd minute when one of their defenders, Puyol, hammered a header into the back of the net off of a corner kick. That game showed that Spain is able to use its big defenders not only in defense but also in attack. I think the Netherlands is capable of the same thing. So while all the attention will be on the flashy attack-minded players, the game might come down to the big defenders. If that happens, I think Spain's combination of Puyol, Pique, Capdevila and Ramos has the advantage.

While the game might come down to the defenders, it's always more fun to talk about the little guys up front..so let's do that!

For Spain, Villa is key. He creates so many chances and seems to capitalize on the vast majority of them. Villa is tied for the tournament lead with 5 goals. In their last game, Spain started Villa as the lone striker. I wonder if they will employ the same tactic tomorrow. Villa's normal partner is Torres, but Torres has been completely AWOL this tournament. I just heard that Torres has been pushing the coach for his starting spot back...whatever Spain decides to do, it will have a huge impact on the way the match is played.

In the Spanish midfield, look for Xavi and Iniesta. Holy cow, these two guys are just incredible. They have created some of the most spectacular plays in the tournament. Basically, everything goes through these two guys for Spain. If the Dutch allow Spain to hold the ball for long stretches and work the ball around the field, they will lose. Pressuring Xavi and Iniesta is crucial for the Netherlands. They cannot allow easy passes to Villa and possibly Torres. The Dutch also needs to keep Ramos and Capdevila (Spanish right and left backs) from bombing down field at every instance. The best remedy for this is to make Spain play defense! If the Netherlands can get some good attacks going, this will make Ramos and Capdevila hesitant to move upfield.

So, by now you are probably thinking, "Jon, all I have heard about is Spain. I thought this was going to be fair and balanced." Well, yes, this will be fair and balanced, but fair and balanced in that Fox News sort of way....haha. Actually, I'm getting to the Netherlands right now!

As I said earlier, Villa has five goals for the tournament, but so does the Dutch star Wesley Sneijder. He and Robben have the ability to create something from nothing. Pretty much any Dutch goal is going to involved one of these two players. They can alter the game in a heartbeat. If the Netherlands is going to keep possession and take Spain out of its element, then Sneijder and Robben will have to be the catalysts. Their speed may also cause some problems for the Spanish defense.

One area that the Netherlands needs to improve is its strikers. Van Persie has lots of ability but has been pretty lackluster so far in the tournament. He has to step up his game and create some decent chances because you know, Villa will for Spain. I will also be keeping an eye on Mark Van Bommel. He plays that holding midfield role for the Dutch, and he has his work cut out for him against Xavi and Iniesta. He needs to minimize their time on the ball and force them to act quicker than they'd like. Van Bommel also has a tendency to pick up cards and create needless drama. He can't do that against Spain. He needs to play solid defense and help out his defenders against an incredibly talented Spanish attack.

Wow, this should be one heck of a game. I don't think either of these teams will be content to sit back and play defense. Germany tried to do that against Spain, and we saw how that worked out for them. So I don't expect the Netherlands to follow the same formula. I am predicting a 2-1 victory for Spain, but the Netherlands will give them a run for their money. I personally cannot wait!

Remember game is at 1:30pm tomorrow (Sunday) on ABC!

Thanks for reading! Until next time, do good and be good.

-Jon

Colorado

Hello again,

I hope everyone had happy, safe and enjoyable Fourth of July Weekends. C and I definitely did.

We went to Colorado on Friday and came home Monday evening. I had never been to Colorado before, and C had only been once to ski. Anyways, I'll try to give a good summary of the weekend, while still keeping it relatively short. If you have more questions, ask them!

Best way to recap the weekend:

Colorado

We stayed in Boulder for the first two nights. It was nice. The drive up the mountain to Rocky Mountain National Park was about an hour. We did that twice. Then, we stayed in Denver Sunday night. There are some pictures of Denver towards the very end of the album.

Boulder has a neat pedestrian mall which is called Pearl Street. C and I ate a couple of meals and shared some gelatos there. There were always performers putting on little concerts or shows. It was a cool place to see. Lots of restaurants, cafes and boutiques. We also took a small walking tour of the University of Colorado's campus. It has some nice spots with lots of open green space. There is even an area with a pond and bridge. It's also really neat how close the campus is to the mountains. Unfortunately, not many students around. So it is a little bit difficult to get an idea of campus life.

Obviously, part of my weekend quest was to sample local beers. (Colorado has a bunch of microbreweries that have become relatively popular) I actually tried two beers from Boulder, Avery's IPA and Upslope's IPA. Avery's was pretty decent. Upslope's was the oddest version of an IPA I have ever tasted. Not sure I would even allow myself to call it an IPA. Minimal hoppiness and tons of malt.....hmmmmm? Not sure. Also, I tried a pilsner from Left Hand Brewery. Left Hand is based in Longmont which I believe is about 30 minutes from Boulder. I've actually tried Left Hand's Milk Stout at Nessun (best restaurant ever), and it is really good. This pilsner though was not cutting it. Maybe it's just a product of my general disdain for pilsners. Anyways, Left Hand can't be all that bad because I wanted to find their website and instead found that they have no real website! They only have a Blogspot account just like me! hahaha. So, they get a pass...but just this once. (see how I incorporated a lil mini BWBB in here? pretty clever huh?)

Also, in Boulder, C and I had one really good meal. C's halibut was perfectly cooked and came with all the veggies that she always craves. I had this cool vegetable sampler. See picture.

From Colorado

Ok, let's move to the park, which was the real reason we went to Colorado. It was awesome. I wish the pictures could do justice to the views and landscape, but sadly, they cannot. C and I have zero hiking experience, but we both thought, "hey, we are young, relatively in shape and adventurous." So we set out with a plan to just hike until we couldn't walk anymore. Well, we achieved that goal on the first day. Haha. I won't recap everything we saw or did, but the first day, we hiked about 12 miles. It was fantastic. Highlights included Alberta Falls, Mills Lake, The Loch and Andrews Glacier. The photo below shows me at the highest point we reached. We read that Andrews Glacier is about 11,700 ft, but we couldn't realistically get up there. It was getting real serious at that point people! Like there might have been no more blogging had we tried to reach the glacier.

From Colorado

The second day of hiking we went about 9.5 miles. Some of it was trails we had already seen the previous day, but all of the lakes were new. The coolest lake of day #2 was definitely Lake Haiyaha. We took this crazy trail through the woods to get to the lake. When you get there, there are tons of rocks, and you can just sit on them while you eat lunch/stare at the lake. The only thing that would have made it better would have been a beer...but I don't think my back was capable of that.

From Colorado

Honestly, such an awesome experience that C and I would encourage everyone to do. I already can't wait to go back. Next time around, I would love to hike to Flattop Mountain, which is like 2,800 ft above the trailhead. That is like 12,300 ft! How tight would that be?!?!?! I'll probably have to start actually working out/preparing for that, but it's on my list of things to do.

I think that's all for now. Like I said, I could go on forever, but I don't want to make anyone have to read all that...haha. So, enjoy the photos. (C is a fantastic photographer) I'll be blogging again soon, probably a World Cup final preview. Reminder, Spain plays Germany tomorrow for the right to face the Netherlands in Sunday's finale. You know I'll be pulling for Spain. Vamos.

Hope everyone is doing well.

-Jon