Beer Tasting now in 2024: Abita Red Lager and Red Trolley Ale

I'm still working on my beer tasting project. Yes, this is the one I originally called my 2022 beer tasting project. I didn't think I'd be at it this long when I started. The 43 beers I've tasted spread across 40 blogs— 41 as of this entry— in addition to stretching 24 months across 3 years on the calendar. And this is the first time in 6 months I've posted on the topic.

Why so slow? Well, aside from being sick for several weeks and not really wanting to drink, I've gotten older. I'm not in my early 20s anymore. I remember my senior year in college I made an effort to try lots of beers. In just 9 months I think I'd tried about 43 beers at home. I remember that visually because I kept one bottle (empty and washed) from every variety I drank that year. I lined those bottles up on a shelf in my bedroom, sorted from left to right in order of preference. I looked at that shelf several times a day and generally added at least one bottle to it every week.

I can't do anything about not being 20 anymore, but at least now I'm over those darn colds— well, not over-over them, but feeling well enough to try a drink or two with dinner again. So, what's on the table this time? I decided to go "red" with red lager and a red ale, both newcomers to this competition.



Abita Amber Lager comes from Abita Brewing in Louisiana. I've had several of their varieties before, dating back years to shortly after they first distributed out of state. I've actually had their amber lager before. It was on tap at various restaurants in New Orleans when I visited last spring. I figured I'd give it a try again here in the bottle.

Karl Strauss Red Trolley Ale is from a small, independent brewery in San Diego, California. I've been meaning to pick up a six pack of this one for years but never got around to it. There was always something else I was interested in more or was on sale. Similarly, I've wanted to visit their brewpub on my many trips to San Diego (10-20 years ago I was there at least once a month on business) but there was always something else to do instead. Finally the Red Trolley's time came.

Pouring them into glasses you can see there's a slight color difference. The amber lager looks... well, amber, while the red also is... red. 😂 The lager pours with more of a head. Neither of these make a difference to me, though I know some beer afficionados seem to put a lot of significance on them.

Tasting them alone, without food, the Abita drinks more easily than the Red Trolley. Abita Amber Lager has a rich flavor with an easy drinking character. That said, it's a touch too sweet. The Red Trolley has a rich, deep flavor, but it's almost buried under an overpowering strength. If Red Trolley were a wine I'd quip, "I can taste more wood than fruit." On the drinking-without-food test the Abita wins hands-down.

Tasting them with dinner I expected the Red Trolley Ale to fare better. Its strength could help it complement the food. Alas, Red Trolley was like a bull in a china shop. It strength is so overpowering I still couldn't find much flavor to it even with a light-to-medium meal of hot dogs. The Abita Amber worked well with this meal, losing none of its own flavor. It's still too sweet, so it's not the beer I'd pick given an adequately wide selection, but the Red Trolley seems like one of the last beers I'd want. It's just too overpowering. Maybe, like a red wine with very high tannins, it would go well with a big steak dinner, but for anything short of that: no, thanks.

The Covid-19 Pandemic Turns 4. Blogging.

I heard on the radio today as I was going out for lunch that today is the 4th anniversary of the Covid-19 pandemic. Yes, on this day, March 11, in 2020 the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the Covid-19 outbreak to be a global pandemic.

The radio program I was listening to on NPR was actually about journaling about the pandemic and how critical it is to helping people remember things.

"Hey!" I thought, "I journaled about the Covid pandemic. I journaled a lot about it!" In fact in the month of March 2020 my 61 journal entries beat my previous record that had stood for over 2 years.

But does all that blogging serve as a record of what was happening? Does it also help me remember how I felt? It turns out the answers are Yes and Yes.

First of all, yes, in fact I even blogged on 11 March, 2020 about the WHO's pandemic declaration. That, along with the wealth of over Coronavirus-related blogs I posted that month (link: my March 2020 table of contents), shows how much the developing worldwide crisis commanded my attention.

Secondly, yes, the blogs also capture how I felt. In particular they reflect the range of feelings I felt.

There was optimism, such as when I wrote about the "Flatten the Curve" idea, hoping if maybe we could all just pull together for a few weeks and put this thing quickly into the rear view mirror.

I can also see how I remained sanguine even as I saw the reasons for optimism all disappear. There were days I kept a focus on things I could be thankful for.

I shared thoughts about helping neighbors as well as sympathy for strangers in situations unlike my own.

And I always looked for the humorous side of Covid-19 even as I expressed outrage at the transparently dishonest Covid-is-a-hoax nonsense increasingly being repeated by President Trump and the political right.

And interspersed with all that were plenty of facts. I recorded facts, both things I read in national or global news as well as things I saw in my own town or even on my own street. There's an old saying that journalism is the first draft of history. This blog was my first draft of history.