Three Beautiful Things 11/23/13: Learning the Q, Imperial Stout Tasting, Cheese and Crackers

1.  After some excellent sushi at Pure, Russell and I went to 13th Ave. at the U of O and then to 3rd Ave. in the Whiteaker part of town and took pictures.  I took all my pictures with my new Pentax Q and often, with this new camera, I feel like I've never taken pictures before.  It's always this way with me when I have a different camera in my hands.  I'm searching for my sweet spot, for my wheelhouse, for my comfort zone.  Here are three of the pictures I took yesterday:

2.  The Deke and I are having fun tasting different kinds of imperial stouts.  At the store today, I purchased The Abyss, one of my favorites over the last two years. I really like its figgy/molassesy quality and its rich depth. Then I went back out, to the Bier Stein, and bought a Widmer Brothers raspberry chocolate Russian Imperial Stout.  It was unique because of the raspberry hit that came second, after the first hit of chocolate and other stouty tastes and its hoppy finish balanced out each sip.  I also bought a Deschutes Black Butte XXV, an imperial porter, made in tribute to Deschutes' 25th year of brewing the always tasty Black Butte Porter.  I drank XXIII on Thanksgiving Day two years ago, missed last year's version, and the Deke and I are saving this bottle for tomorrow afternoon.  I am really happy that we enjoy these imperial stouts/porters. They have a pretty high alcohol by volume and splitting bottles between us is just right.

3.  The stout tasting was made even more pleasurable as we chomped on aged Irish cheddar cheese and black pepper crackers.  So simple.  So tasty.