On Saturday, Doug, Lelaine, and I went to
Savor. Savor is like a prom for beer geeks. Get dressed up (for beer people, this means no shorts) and mingle with 67 of the country's best craft brewers, each offering two of their best beers - often doubles or imperials - paired with gourmet food. The purpose is to stress that beer is more complex and better complements food compared to wine.
When there are 134 different beers to try, you have to prioritize. Very small pours, so you maximize the number of samples. The highlight for me was Pliny the Elder, a Double Indian Pale Ale from the Russian River Brewery in Santa Rosa, CA. I have read about it many times, but it isn't distributed in DC so my lips had never touched it. There were a lot of other amazing things. Too many to mention, but Pliny stood out.
Another interesting moment was early in the evening when we were sharing a table with a reporter who was taking notes. She told me that earlier in the day she had lunch with Jim Koch, the Sam Adams founder, and that he had opened a "pretty limited edition bottle". She couldn't really say exactly what it tasted like, so I went ahead and asked if it was a Utopias. A bit of background. Utopias is probably the most sought after beer. They run very limited batches. They sell on ebay for $200+ per bottle. Getting to try a Utopias is like driving a Rolls Royce, flying a space shuttle, or winning the lottery. And the reporter, who couldn't even remember what it was called, got to try it. Lucky duck.
Someone from Boulevard from KC was there. They had the unfiltered wheat and the Saison Brett, a saison/farmhouse ale from their small batch Smokestack Series. I asked if George Brett, the beer's namesake, had tried it but was told that #5, "is more of a Coors Light man." Later in the night, and a few beers later, I told a Schlafly brewer (Schlafly is from St. Louis) that they should name a beer after a Cardinal from the 1980s, maybe Tommy Herr or Juaquin Andujar (the pitcher who the Royals crushed in game 7 of the '85 World Series). He was not amused.
While I saved most of the room in my stomach for beer, Lelaine immersed herself in the food. She particularly enjoyed the cheese table and the oyster bar. In addition to the cheese, I sustained myself on steak sanwiches and chocolates. It was a very tasty night. Luckily for me, a few of the brewers are sticking in town for a few days and putting on a smaller reception on the Hill on Tuesday.
To combat treadmill and running fatigue--in more ways than one--I decided to get some swimming personal training sessions. I can swim and I am comfortable in the water, but I never had formal lessons. Since my gym has endless pools I've tried several times to swim for a half hour, but the first time I nearly passed out and the second time I think I drank more water than exercised. 
