Three Beautiful Things 06/19/18: Slowly and Surely, TB Test, Completed Remodel Requires Beer Club Meeting

1. Today the Deke and I started putting our house together. I'd say we started putting it back together, but we have never really put it together. Our first job is simple: hang clothes in our new closet. We also ordered some accessories for the closet and the bathroom. We have a lot of decisions to make about the front room and the bedroom on the top floor. Slowly and surely.

2. Every year, as part of staying listed at the U of Maryland for a kidney transplant, I have a TB skin test. It's a simple procedure. On Thursday, I'll return to the lab for the results -- all the technician will have to do is look at my arm -- and have the results sent to Baltimore. So far, no bump is sprouting at the place of injection, so it's looking pretty good that, once again, the result will be negative.

3. Around 4:30 Shawn pulled in front of the house and we were ready for him. I had the checkbook out and my pen poised to make our last payment for his work. We also had out the short beer tasting glasses. Paying our bill to Shawn also meant another beer club session. I brought home a box of different beers from Eugene, eager to contribute to the beer club, and today we decided to introduce Shawn to two terrific Oregon beers.

First, we popped open a bomber of the beer Terry Turner named and the beer whose purchase helps protect and sustain salmon in Oregon: Pelican Brewing's Five Fin Pilsner. When Terry served us this beer in Gladstone, I thought it was among the best pilsners I'd ever tasted. Tasting it today, I'd say it is the very best pilsner I've ever had. I really like how it's a light, easy to drink beer with quiet hints of lemon zest and other citrus notes and even a little spice.

Next I brought out a bomber of Ninkasi's Ground Control Bourbon Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout. This is a beer to drink with caution. Its ABV is 10% and it's got all the right deep and dark complexity a person wants from an Imperial Stout. The impact of the bourbon barrel combined with the fact that the beer was brewed with Oregon hazelnuts, anise, and cocoa nibs gives the beer a dark sweetness, like the best semi-sweet dark chocolate and I loved the presence of the filberts and licorice notes from the anise. I experience something primordial when I drink a stout like this. The flavors are so deep and rich, hinting at molasses, that it's as if it were brewed and aged deep in the past. Ground Control finishes with a refreshing bitterness, a perfect compliment to the initial cocoa-y bittersweetness. Shawn, the Deke, and I absolutely loved drinking this beer. I'd had one short pour of it back in March at the Filling Station in CdA and I enjoyed it even more today. It's definitely a beer for special occasions. Marking the finish of the remodel definitely merited sharing this beer.