The Daylight is Just Right

With the switch to Daylight Saving Time two weekends ago I dreaded it remaining dark until later in the morning, making it harder to get up on workdays. It turns out with my schedule it works just right. I woke up before my 6:45am alarm today and noticed that the sky was already brightening. Although sunrise didn't occur until 7:05 the brightening sky is enough to make it easier to wake up— and to wake up gently around 6:45, as opposed to how I often can't sleep past 6am in the middle of summer as bright sunlight floods around the drapes over my bedroom windows.

All this, plus the benefit of light in the evenings! Not only is it not dark already when I call the workday quits around 5:30 or 6pm but there's light to enjoy through dinnertime. Sunset today is 7:23pm, and there'll be light in the sky until around 7:45. The night before last Hawk and I went out to eat for dinner and enjoyed dining outside on the patio. We hadn't done that for a few months as it was dark by dinner time.

Beer Tasting, Round 3: Alaskan Amber and Boont Amber

I'm still catching up on the first few rounds of my Beer Tasting 2022 project. A few weeks ago I bought a pair of amber ales in six-packs. As with Round 2 when I compared two dark lagers that turned about to be almost indistinguishable once poured I ended up choosing these two beers because I expected them to be similar. Although I didn't start this project as a head-to-head, knockout kind of competition it does make sense to compare apples to apples. Or, in this case, amber ales to amber ales. How similar would these be?

My two picks for Round 3 were Alaskan Amber and Anderson Valley Brewing Company's Boont Amber Ae. Good lord, that's a mouthful. Even its acronym, AVBCBAA, is ridiculously long.

Alaskan describes its amber ale as an alt-style ale, pointing out they are using "alt" as the German word for old. "Old" apparently refers to the fermentation process they use, which runs longer and lower temperatures.

AVBC doesn't pretend to give us German lessons but instead gushes with adjectives and nouns in English. "[R]ich, crystal malts give this beer a deep copper hue and contribute a slight caramel sweetness while the herbal, spicy bitterness from carefully selected whole-cone hops impart a crisp, clean finish. Hints of sun toasted grain, toffee, and fruity esters compliment the mellow, noble hop aroma." They produce their beer in the bucolic small town of Boonville, California, in rural Mendocino County. I've driven past their brewery several times on Northern California road trips though I've only stopped in once so far, in October 2020.

I've enjoyed both of these beers in the past. They're both kind of on my short list. As in, if I were in a restaurant or bar with 10 assorted beers on the menu and either of these were on the list, I'd probably pick it and be happy with my choice. That's not a surprise, BTW, because red/amber ale is my favorite style of beer. But which of these amber ales is better? I'd never tried them head-to-head before!

It turns out these two beers are very similar. They're not quite indistinguishable like Baja Laguna and Negra Modelo were in my previous test. In tasting them backward and forward, with food and without, I found that Alaskan had a slight edge. Its flavors combined just a bit better to give it a slightly richer taste. Winner: Alaskan! 🍻