Intro: DAB Dortmunder

I'm a woman, and I like beer.  No, I love beer.  I love beer so much that I spend much of my free time finding and trying new beers, and I built a database from the ground up so I could catalog brewers and beers from around the world, then evaluate and rate each one I try.  I'm even trying to figure out some sort of recommendation process, where the database would be able to select beers similar to ones users say they like, but that's a little more difficult, since many of the qualitative factors (type of grains, hops, yeast strain used) are often not available.  However, since I have little in the way of free time these days, my progress with the database has slowed down some, but I'm hoping to get back to it soon.  As soon as all the little fix-'em projects around the house get done...

Database aside, I decided to start blogging about beer because 1) I love beer.  2) If I ever get any readers, they might be able to suggest beers that I have not yet heard of or tried, which I would really appreciate.  3) It gives me something to do that isn't home repair or data entry or grading papers.  4) I just really love beer.  That's going to kind of be the theme here, if you hadn't guessed.

So, I thought I'd start with a beer I tried last night -- my first Dortmunder:

I don't always use the "correct" glassware for my beer.  I just pour it in whatever's clean and close at hand.  I enjoyed this beer (duh).  You can see the nice golden-yellow color.  It had about a one-inch head when I poured it, and you can't really see it too well in this picture, but it left slight lacing on the sides of the glass.  It's a well-balanced lager with a solid grainy-malty base and mellow to mild hop flavor.  The barley flavors come through pretty well.  Smooth, crisp, and clean, this beer went well with my dinner (ham steak, mac & cheese, and salad).  It had a full-bodied taste, unlike many local and commercial lagers, which taste thin and watered down to me.  I also tasted some biscuit-like flavors on the back end, which I tend to like. I'd give this beer a 6/10, maybe even a 7 because it does have that drinkability factor.

I found this beer at the awesome beer store attached to the Candlewyck Beef & Ale in Buckingham, PA (a very long drive for me, but well worth it).  <shameless_plug>If Beervana were a real place, it might well look something like this store.  It's laid out like you would expect to see a nice wine store, with the crates and display bottles and whatnot.  I think I wandered around there for close to an hour.  I also signed up for their mailing list (which I almost never do) because they had so many beers that are hard to find around here.  I even found a few brewers I'd never heard of before to add to my database!  And, best of all, they had an excellent selection of styles that I love.  Right now, I'm partial to Belgian styles, grand crus, Abbey style ales, and eisbocks.  And they let you mix and match a six-pack, so I got to snag a good variety at a reasonable price. </shameless_plug>  I should probably mention that I don't work there, don't know anyone who works there, yada yada yada.  But they do carry and excellent selection, which can be hard to find in Pennsylvania (thank you PLCB).

My goal is to try at least a dozen beers I've never had before each year (preferably many, many more than that!).  I'll post on here whenever I come across a beer I've never tried before.  If anyone has any suggestions for beers I should try, leave me a comment and I'll try to track it down.  Cheers!