Card nights started several years ago and typically have the same basic outline. We meet at either the Tiki Hut or Dale and Carol's house. Dale or I prepare a mix of music for the evening. (We've progressed from CDs in multi-disc machines that semi-shuffled the music to iPod playlists over the years - a huge jump in the quality of the song shuffle.) We prepare drinks for the girls - and sometimes ourselves - and we play cards. We've tried many games over the years but we've settled on the following as our main games: cutthroat pitch, pitch, oh hell, spades and hearts. We almost always play cutthroat , pitch and oh hell. Depending on the hour, we sometimes play hearts (if Dale and I choose) or spades (if the girls choose.) With music in the background, we play cards, talk, drink, and laugh. For those couples out there, especially those with kids, I can't express strongly enough how wonderful it is to have adult friends to spend time with. Spending time with our friends, even when we have all of our kids there, allows us to decompress from the work week and put things in perspective. As we've gotten to know Dale and Carol better, we can now discuss pretty much anything over the card table - and sometimes we do. I strongly encourage you to make a "play date" for yourselves if you don't already.
The music mix is very important to all of us. We listen to a variety of music but the mix always includes some Jimmy Buffett. Dale owns most - if not all - of the music Jimmy has produced and I own most of it. We also throw in classic rock, 80's hair rock, Jack Johnson, a few country artists (Garth Brooks, George Strait and a few others), and whatever else looks good that evening. Dale has an extensive collection of music so he always puts some interesting stuff in the mix.
The drinks are equally important. We don't drink to excess but we like to have a few drinks each as we play. Over the years, I've really gotten into making and trying new mixed drinks. Most of these are of the boat drink variety: pina coladas, margaritas, and anything with rum. I will talk about these at some point as well. Dale and I also enjoy drinking beer and the girls like wine. The girls do not like beer. This is an important fact to remember going forward. Dale's and my taste in beer deserve an explanation.
In college, we both drank whatever was cheap and/or available. Now that we're older, we prefer to drink beer that we did not have in college. For this reason, we stay away from the bigger commercial beers popular here such as Budweiser, Coors, Miller, etc. As we've drunk many different beers over the years, we've also had trouble remembering which beers we've tried and what we thought of them. Therefore, we started a beer journal a few months ago. We use the journal to record our thoughts and rankings of the beers we drink. We've looked at some of the beer ranking sites on the Internet and we most definitely do not want to compete with those. Our palates are obviously not refined enough to pick out the licorice or molasses highlights in a lovely amber ale. What we do know, however, is what we think tastes good so that is what we record. Everyone has their own tastes, likes and dislikes. If you try these beers and agree with us, we are happy for you. If, however, you think we are nuts and couldn't taste our way out of a paper bag, we're still happy for you but we just don't care. These rankings represent what we like and you won't change our minds.
On Friday night, the Tiki Gal and I went to Dale and Carol's. Dale already had the music going when we arrived. The girls were both tired so they were drinking wine - Merlot for Carol and Pinot Grigio for the Tiki Gal. Dale and I were drinking beer.
The card playing didn't go too well for Dale and I. Carol won cutthroat in an historically quick beat down. Pitch is a team game and we always play girls against guys (this mirrors the rest of our lives as well, it seems) and the girls beat us soundly. The Tiki Man did manage to avoid a skunking of the guys by pulling out a win in oh hell (a deviously fun game.)
Dale and I had three different beers and their rankings follow:
New Belgium Blue Paddle
Color: Pale golden. (the girls called it a cloudy urine color but, as mentioned above, the girls don't like beer so their opinions should be discounted)
Skunkiness: 0 skunks. (The girls determine the skunkiness factor - one of their secret joys.)
Taste: We detected a smooth flavor with a distinct hoppiness. The beer is good but somewhat one dimensional with nothing much beyond the hoppiness.
Comments: We also noted that some bottles must contain more than others as Dale's glass emptied much quicker than mine. Another theory, put forth by Carol, was that maybe Dale had a hard week at work. New Belgium makes one of our very favorite beers, Fat Tire, so we wanted to like Blue Paddle more than we actually did.
Ranking: 3.25 pints out of 5.
Paulaner Oktoberfest Marzen
Color: Amber.
Skunkiness: 0 skunks.
Taste: Malty and sweet with a hint of brown sugar. Very smooth and drinkable.
Comments: It seems that every time Dale and I have this beer, we lose at cards and the girls get a little cocky about it. Even if there is some connection, we like this beer too much to give it up. If we have to take a beating every now and then, so be it. Also, the girls make a big deal out of not liking beer but they always manage to taste whichever beer we are drinking. They both said that if they absolutely had to drink a beer, this one would be their choice.
Ranking: 3.5 pints out of 5.
Paulaner Salvator Double Bock
Color: Amber
Skunkiness: 0 skunks.
Taste: The high hop-level makes it rich and zesty. Heavy and malty with a smooth finish.
Comments: This is one of out top rated beers so far. We've tried several double bocks and this is our favorite, even above the Ayinger Celebrator that tends to get higher ratings in other reviews. Unfortunately, we can't find this beer in our area. We have to get it when we go on trips out-of-state. It is so good, however, we will make up reasons to drive to Texas so we can bring some back.
Ranking: 4.5 pints out of 5.
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