Beer, glorious beer

I think there are two kinds of people in the world when it comes to food, and I have found the perfect way to distinguish between them.

Tonight I ate at a fantastic brewery called ERB. I started with a cheese dish recommended to me by the lovely owner of Hostel 6, where I'm staying. Google translated it as pickled, the menu as "spicy", but it is some sort of marinated cheese, covered in pickled onions and marinated peppers and served on a bed of oily goodness.

This, my friends, is pickled Camembert:

Now, when it comes to food, you are either the kind of person to whom that sounds delicious, or not. That's it.

In case you couldn't tell, I thought it was magnificent. And that was just the start.

I had 3 courses and 3 beers. Big time splurging going on over here, but oh man was it worth it (especially at less than 2€ a beer).

First, the basic lager with the pickled cheese.

Next, the dark, smokey stout, with garlic soup and croutons (described on the menu as fried bread, which I suppose is quite accurate).

And finally, the dessert - "pancakes" with warm raspberry sauce and whipped cream, and a Weizen beer, which the waiter kindly suggested to me several times as a beer very good for women. I didn't have the heart to tell his smiling, eager face that I will take a stout over a hefeweizen any day.

This is hardly the first time I've encountered this opinion either - people seem to think that women don't like beer, or if they do they prefer blonde beers. I went on a date once when I ordered a dark beer, and the guy ordered a Riesling. For those who don't know, that's a generally very sweet white wine. The server who brought the drinks gave me the wine and he the beer. What's with the assumptions? I know plenty of girls who like beer as much as I do.

To be fair, the Weizen was particularly wonderful for a beer of its type. It was subtle without being boring, with a light and refreshing flavor and a very slight sweetness reminiscent of citrus (but not oozing that lemony, orangey taste like some beers do).

But, back to the point (which is the description of this experience, in great detail, so you can understand exactly why I have devoted an entire post to one meal).

Shiny, massive copper devices used in the production of beer and warm wooden tables filled the room, with little vases of tiny purple flowers, which make me happy both because they remind me of lavender and because this is a plant that bees flock to, and walking by a bush of it in Boulder in the summer sounds like walking by a beehive. There were sconces lining the walls with little likenesses of men, and a flared metal piece above, covered in 3D etchings of the town.

I immediately noticed the music. First, "Love Walked In", followed by "Jeepers Creepers". At one point the DJ bellowed "Radio Swing Worldwide! Hits from the 30s and 40s! Listeners in over 100 countries!" but even his overly chipper voice just made me glad that there was more of the same coming up. And I wasn't disappointed, as next came a rendition by Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters (I believe) of "Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby" which I loved and had never heard before.


I was so perfectly content in this place.