Easy Saturday. Temporary Bachelorhood Over.

Saturday this weekend was an easy day. I awoke early, before my weekend alarm, and decided to start the day. I puttered around for a bit over breakfast then went out for a dip in the hot tub. The weather forecast had been calling for crummy weather all weekend since last weekend, but I found a window of clear sky on Saturday morning.



Using the hot tub is a habit I've fallen out of the past few months. It was broken and took 3+ months to repair, only becoming ready to use again 2 weeks ago. I kind of had to make myself ago. It's like, "It's here, I'm paying for it, I might as well enjoy it."

And that crummy weather the forecast was promising all week? It came right about the time I was done with my dip in the hot tub. Perfect timing! 😂 It was shitty weather all the rest of the day.

Saturday evening my temporary bachelorhood came to an end. Hawk flew home from her business trip to the midwest. We had a rendezvous at one of our favorite area restaurants, Palo Alto Sol. She hired a driver from the airport to Palo Alto. I met her there, and we drove home together afterward.

Palo Alto Sol has been on our list of favorite Mexican restaurants in the area for 25+ years. We used to go there move often when she worked in Palo Alto. Some days I'd meet her there for dinner after work. When she moved on from the job in Palo Alto we ate there less. Plus, we liked the food at the sister restaurant (they're owned by members of hte same family) La Fiesta slightly better. And La Fiesta is way closer to our house. But since Covid, La Fiesta hasn't been quite as good. They cheaped out on the salsas they serve with chips. They went from offering 3 salsas, two of them excellent and one of them good, to offering only the "good" one... except at the same time it deteriorated to only "okay". Meanwhile, Palo Alto Sol is the same (very good) as it ever was.

Palo Alto Sol was "welcome home!" comfort food for Hawk. We got our usual order there, Hawk with a non-alcoholic piña colada to go with hers while I made do with iced tea. We don't dine out at places like Palo Alto Sol as often as we used to because we dislike how everything's gotten so expensive. It was $80 all-in for what we used to think of as a regular weeknight meal.

After dinner we came home and played a few rounds of our favorite boardgame. "Birds", we call it for short. (The real name is Wingspan.) After that we had quiet time for the rest of the evening. Sunday we'd aim to spend time outdoors as the weather forecast looked promising.

Gordon Biersch Märzen takes on Abita Amber Lager

I went shopping last weekend at the liquor store. Mostly I was buying wine; I had a coupon. And while I was there I picked up a six-pack of a beer I've been meaning to compare in my Beer Tasting 2022 project. (Yes, I'm very aware it's now 2024. I drink slowly, okay?)

The new challenger is Gordon Biersch Märzen. Gordon Biersch is a brewery that got started nearby, in San Jose. They did well enough with their brews that they gained regional distribution. Their original and classic beer is their Märzen, and old-fashioned Oktoberfest beer. Yes, Märzen is literally German for "March". And circa 100 years ago it's what Germans would drink during Oktoberfest. Which is actually in September.

The first beer I've paired it against is Abita Amber Lager.



Why put a old-style Oktoberfest Märzen against an amber lager? Well, they're kind of the same thing. And indeed, tasting them side by side proved that. From the pour they had nearly identical color. Abita, though, had an exaggerated head, even as I poured it carefully into the glass.

The similarity continued to the flavor. Overall these beers are very similar in flavor. Thus it's surprising that Gordon Biersch is so hands-down the winner. I drank them one after the other, then in reverse order, both with and without food (pizza!). No matter how I varied it, GB always came out ahead. Abita just tasted kind of sweet yet anonymous. GB was pleasantly sweet but had an enjoyable richness to its flavor. Every sip of GB told me, "Hey, I'm a beer! I taste like beer. I'm rich and a little sweet but not overpowering. Hey, what's that, pizza? Mmm-mm, I love pizza."

Hometown Gordon Biersch wins its first match with a walk-off. Of course, that's not particularly surprising because Abita Amber Lager is not a strong contender. It'll be interesting to see how GB measures up to Märzen-style Oktoberfests.