Enkidu Brew

Brewery: Flying Dog Brewery (Maryland, USA)
10.5% ABV
Served by bottle

Appearance: Pours a dark amber, mahogany. Cloudy. Surprisingly small head with no retention whatsoever. A very thin, dirty off-white bit of foam is formed and dissipates quickly.

Smell: Pleasant at first. Sweet with a hint of raisins and pear. After a while the decent blend of caramel malt and bread scent gets a little overridden by the smell of alcohol. In the end the smell is a constant reminder that you are drinking a barley wine.

Taste: This brew is like being jumped in a back alley by three men. The first guy, Mr. Malt, stabs your tongue without asking questions. Dude number two, Sir Sugar, does his best to even things out and dull the pain left by Mr. Malt. One without the other might be overpowering in one area. The two combined here make this drink a bumpy ride in cruise control. A raisin plays Villain #3. He’s a little weak. Kicks you while you’re down. He wants to be a part of the gang, and the other two guys let him hang around ’cause he’s a nice kid and all, but his damage is minimal. He’s the punk that steals your wallet after someone else knocked you out cold. A rude raisin would have been much better here in the end, in my opinion. A real kick in the teeth.

Mouthfeel: Thicker than you think, which makes it a little filling. Carbonation is moderate. You feel it all the way down.

Drinkability: My wife picked this out for me and I’m glad she did. Change the strength of the aftertaste and I’m a happy camper. Still, this beer is very drinkable if you are in the mood for a barley wine. It’s a creeper brew and you need to take your time with it. Goes down easy, which anytime a barley wine does that makes it a dangerous thing. I would advise you to dedicate a night to this beer. I have discovered it is NOT wise to wait until your 5th beer of the night to add this to the menu.

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No one knows how he will do in office.  One thing is for sure, the man is wise when it comes to the tools of a negotiation.

President Barack Obama has invited Republican and Democratic lawmakers for drinks at the White House as they consider his economic recovery bill that still faces opposition.

White House aides say about two dozen key members of Congress were invited to the Executive Mansion Wednesday evening. The guest list includes six House Democrats, six House Republicans and five senators from each party.

The event is expected to start after the House considers Obama’s $825 billion economic recovery bill that he has championed virtually daily in his young presidency.

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Via International Herald Tribune:

German beer sales dipped by 1.1 percent in 2008, continuing a gradual longterm decline in a year that saw restrictions on smoking in bars and restaurants take effect, official figures showed Thursday.

Germany’s brewers sold 21.75 billion pints, or 10.29 billion liters, of beer last year, the Federal Statistical Office said. It did not offer a reason for the decline.

Beer consumption in Germany has been falling steadily for more than a decade, a trend that experts have attributed to an increasingly health-conscious public.

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