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Does time slow down when memories are created?

If so, I wish I could bottle up more days like yesterday.

I woke up around 11am and found out my car was missing (my dad took it out). So I hit up Andre to ask for a ride to the bank and Subway. (5 dollar footloooong — goddamnit no, shut up, shut up)

Went for a solo, 3-mile run afterward at the usual stomping ground (Back Bay).

Realized my hair was getting too wild, so I got it cut around the corner. Picked up a Turkish Latte at Kean’s after that (my stylist, Back Bay, and Kean’s are all within a few blocks of each other), and read a few chapters of Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs.

I got to Klosterman’s “23 questions I’d ask a girl to figure out if she’s my type” (or something like that), and came across this one:

You’re walking around downtown Chicago. A wizard stops you, and tells you he can make you more attractive — relative to a dollar amount that you’ll pay him. Of course, you don’t believe him. So he points at a man walking across the street, and says “I’ll make him one dollar more attractive,” and waves his wand. The man’s appearance doesn’t change, but somewhere deep inside you, you realize he’s a tiny bit more attractive. He’s undeniably a little sexier. Now there’s one catch — you can only pay the wizard once — you can’t go back to him after the deal’s done, and he will never bless your looks again. How much do you pay?

This was just one question among between twenty two others, but it stuck with me a little longer than most.

Just how much would I pay? I ended up settling on $400 — an amount I wouldn’t feel too bad losing if the wizard was BSing around. But a few hours later I realized that question had many other caveats. It never details how much money would raise your looks by, say, 1 point on the ubiquitous “Scale of 1-10″, so it breaks down your answer to: 1) how much disposable income you have, 2) how much you value physical appearances, 3) your trustworthiness of strangers, and 4) plastic/cosmetic surgery.

Anyway, I dwelled on this, and several other questions, for a good half hour or so, stopped by Hi-Time Wine Cellars (also only a couple blocks away), didn’t see anything interesting, and went back home.

There wasn’t much on TV, so I channel surfed and came across the beginning of a replay of Muhammed Ali vs. George Foreman (the “Rumble in the Jungle” fight in 1974). I’d never seen Ali box an entire match before, so I made some noodles and settled down. It was amazing, easily one of the best boxing matches I’d ever seen.

Ali vs. Frazier III, the “Thrilla in Manila” was next, so I hit up Will and Andre and asked them to come over for some drinks and TV. Will left around 11 (he had work the next day), Andrew Chang came on by, and Andre left for a couple hours, only to return to Silky’s later (that’s a whole ‘nother story, which I won’t get into here).

So Andrew and I walk to Silky’s, get a couple drinks, hang out there for about an hour, and Andre shows up at 1:26am. Seriously, exactly 4 minutes before closing time. So… omg… we need to get more alcohol –

Three Matadors, Ernesto!

Okay, now take our picture Ernesto:

Why is everybody dressed up in caballeros y vaqueros outfits? Oh, there’s a chili cookoff tomorrow. Hm, whose hat is this? Oh well, Andre — take a picture!

The two of us (Andrew and me) stumble back home, and Andre parks and joins us halfway. We end up sitting outside my house, indian-style, and talk… about… I forget. Andre has the video. Stan comes over (his car’s backing up in the picture), and by now the delicious matadors are settling down. We are all jibbering about something, and Andrew keeps making me laugh:

Now that Stan’s here, we go inside to play some Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix.

SSF2THDR.

Andrew continues to be hilarious. We’d devolved into speaking Mandarin (wait, actually, just Andrew), so Andrew kept saying (in Chinese) — “I’m gonna kick-kick-kick-kick your head! Wait, how do you say “fierce” in Chinese? Oh, I remember. I’m going to kick you! I’m going to use my forceful kick! My leg is made of stone! See?! Kick-kick-kick! Aha I’m so strong!”

Okay, so that picture probably didn’t capture the emotion, but the exchange should be on video too.

3am rolls around, and tacos beckon. We stumble outside, and Andrew runs up to my lemon tree, grabs a lemon, and… just… bites it. “My mouth is so sour!!! Your oranges don’t taste good Tony… =(”

I think he ate the lemon peel:

And so we get to the last picture. March 1st, 2009, 3:16am, in Santa Ana, CA, on the corner of Harbor and Hazard, at the Taqueria de Anda. 3 lengua tacos (mine), various carnitas and carne asada tacos (Stan, Andre), and a Carne Asada burrito (half me, half Andre):

Total bill for the entire day? Not including the haircut or game, or the bottle of wine I dug out from the cellar: 1 Five… Five dollar… Five dollar footloooonnnggg…, 1 $3 cup of coffee, 1 round of drinks ($11 + $4 tip), and $6 at Taqueria. Not bad.

*PS — Thanks Andre, for sending over the pics~

Where do I go after drinking quite possibly the best beer ever created (Pliny the Younger, #2 in the world) and the most expensive liquor I’ve ever had? (Pierre Ferrand Cognac, Distilled in 1914)

That’s right, nowhere.

I’ve discovered a few things in the past several weeks of debauchery: 1) Alcohol can cause you to say dumb things (it can also make you feel happy sometimes). 2) Your liver is on the right side of your body (which doesn’t explain the aches I get on the left side of my abdomen). 3) I don’t think I’m a huge fan of cognacs.

Russian River’s Pliny the Younger triple IPA and Consecration sour ale were released a couple weeks ago, and have been hitting some of the local beer bars recently. I prepared myself for the ride, but I’d already been semi-binge drinking over the past several weeks anyway.

Both beers were ridiculously delicious, and totally worth the $9-13/pint I paid for the dozen or so pints I had.

Hi-Time Wine Cellar held a cognac tasting yesterday in Irvine. The h’ors d’evours (I hope I spelled that right) were actually very good. Frequent trips to the lunch table, a couple feet from our table, kept things in check.

Thirteen cognacs were served, ranging from around $100 to “$1500″ for a cognac distilled by French women in 1914 while their husbands were fighting the war. I say “$1500″ because the Pierre Ferrand rep wasn’t exactly sure how much they were going for (”$1000 or $1500″), and Hi-Time had one bottle left for $600. Anyway, it was extremely good, but the two snobs gentlemen across from us were obviously enjoying it more than I was. They ended up buying the bottle.

Fortunately, I’ve only put on one or two extra pounds over the past couple months, so my body’s at least kept it together. I can’t say I’ve been extremely productive, though, so I’m taking a break off the C2H5OH for a couple weeks to let things settle down.

Nothing much else to update in the life of Tony — the past several days have been lazy and enjoyable. I turned on my drum machines a couple days ago and went through some patterns I saved over Christmas. I haven’t felt like DJing lately, but I’m still listening to huge amounts of new music (at least a few hundred tracks and 5-6 hours of sets) each week. Maybe turning the knobs and pushing the buttons will keep me going.

Ugh… why didn’t I think of that last night?

Found this while digging through old photos. Evan, Andre, and Me (left to right) @ Beachwood, my home away from home. Pic was taken with a Canon SD1000.

For my first beer review on this blog, I thought I’d start with the best. Pliny the Younger. In my opinion, the best IPA to come my mouth’s way. By far the most drinkable 7+% ABV beer that’s out there, and I could argue perhaps the most drinkable 6+% beer out there. Below 6% gets into sour ale territory, so we can stop there. And it’s 11%.

*pics below were taken at Hollingshead by yours truly

PLINY THE YOUNGER
(as reviewed by me on BeerAdvocate.com) 

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Score: A+ (5/5)

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Perfect 5 you say?! Well, I’ll let you guys in on a little secret. I cheated a little bit, filling out these scores. Don’t tell anybody, though… the truth is, I may have had beers that looked better than Pliny the Younger. (/sarcasm)

Whew.

Now that’s over with, let me start the worshipping of this beer. This beer is easily in my top 3 beers I’ve ever had. I’ve had great, huge, stinging barley wines laced with wood and whiskey, but no beer comes close to Younger in terms of a big, balanced, delicious beer. This beer may be the best-looking, most easily-drinkable beer above 6% I’ve ever had. Couple that with a great taste, well, 5.

I’ve had this on tap at Hollingshead about a half dozen times over the past few months, and it really is a finicky beer. Some kegs Kenny taps seem a bit more stale than others. The pint I had today, though, was godly.

For all the gushing that the Pliny the Elder receives, Younger should get a waterfall. It actually has a pretty different mouth profile than the Elder, but a similar hop bouquet and complexity. For those of you who haven’t tried Elder, Younger, or Blind Pig, and love IPA’s, try to get your hands on these. The only experience I can compare tasting these beers with was me trying and enjoying my first glass of IPA at the Stone Brewery — that one Ruination that made me fall in love with the IPA style. Bitterness to hide the alcohol, best served cool (not warm) to enjoy on a hot day, with fruits and malts to balance it all out. I’ve since moved on from Ruination, but I get to have that falling-in-love experience every time I try one of these great Russian River IPAs.

To start, Younger is a truly different IPA. Most IPA’s pour somewhat clear — Younger is very opaque and almost looks like a Hef or Belgian ale. The head is creamy, but settles down fast.

Smell might not be as complex as Elder, but it has a very different, less pine-y, and more citrus-y and sweeter nose to it. A sign of things to come.

As you take your first sip of Younger, it becomes clearly evident that this is not Elder (which, to me, is the premier DIPA). No, this is something different. To a hophead, it’s very creamy, sweet, and yet still bitter and hoppy. To a casual drinker, this beer probably is supremely hopped but bearably so, with a deep taste and great feel. The complexity of the hops underlies the sweet nectary feel around your mouth. It’s a pretty strong beer, but it seems Vinnie almost used a hidden alcohol hotness to blend a further dimension into the hops and malts. And that creamy feel just adds even more depth. Mmm. 

Next sip — wow! This is almost the pinnacle of mouthfeel. A taste so delicious you could swish it around your mouth until it gets warm, or you could gulp down its cool soft feel.

So you take another gulp, and another, and then you go on BA because you aren’t really sure why you’re feeling buzzed off of 6oz. of a tasty medium-bodied beer. Oh, that’s why, it’s 11%.

To the negative reviews of Younger here — I can only assume the keg was stored differently or was from another batch. I had thought Younger didn’t age that well kegged, but trying it today on tap, at least 4 months after its February ‘08 release, changed my mind. This keg tastes as good as the first one I had, and much better than the couple I’ve had in between. If you like Elder, you’ll love Younger. If you’re a hophead, you’ll love Younger. If you love beer, well, you’ll probably love Younger. 

Undoubtedly, the beer that everybody will compare this one to is Pliny the Elder. Younger sacrifices some pine, grapefruit, and bitterness, and replaces it with a milky, creamy, sweeter taste and feel. Highly desirable, in my opinion.

I thought IPA’s couldn’t get any better than Elder, but after trying both Elder and Younger, Younger wins by a mile. When I talk about loving a Triple IPA, most people look at me and make a bitter face. Younger is not overly bitter, regardless of its IBU. Pliny the Younger sits at the summit of IPA and determines what else is worthy of being its kin.

Now I’ve fallen into the trap of believing a beer was great just because of its ranking (coughAbysscough), but Younger completed my search for a perfect 10 (or 5) IPA. I’ve read reviews that praise a certain beer, lifting it above its style, and tried them, thinking, “well, this it a great stout, but i was expecting cotton candy.” But for all the hype this beer gets, I think it deserves its ranking. I haven’t tried the current #1-3 beers above the #4 Younger, so I can’t argue Younger’s place, but to see it stand out up there, away from the Belgian ales, Stouts, and Barley Wines, means something to me. 

You might not like it, but I know I do. It’s the only beer I’ve tried that doesn’t taste like it holds even half the abv it really has.

IPAs I’ve had: Lost Abbey 2nd Ann, Stone 10th/11th/Ruination/IPA simcoe hopped, Avery Maharaja, Alesmith, DFH 60/90, Racer 5/X, among many, many more.