Covering University of Colorado sports, mostly basketball, since 2010

Friday, August 31, 2012

Friday Beer Post: 2012 Gameday Beer-o-the-week - RMS edition

Each week throughout the football season I'm going to suggest a good beer for the ubiquitous pre-game tailgate. Let's be honest, with tailgates it's not always top quality that you're looking for. To steal a phrase from the heinous beer terrorists at Budweiser, you want "drinkability." (or what a real beer connoisseur calls "a session beer") So, be warned, these may not be "the best" beers around. But, in the words of Dave Chappelle as Samuel L. Jackson "IT'LL GET YOU DRUNK!"

Confession time: I'm not going to the game.  A pair of good friends are taking the plunge and getting married (HUZZAH!).  For whatever reason, they decided the first Saturday in September was a good time to do the deed (*sad trombone*), which puts their ceremony in direct conflict with that most holy of institutions: a football Saturday.  After much soul-searching, I decided seeing their union was more important to me than another iteration of this ridiculous series, so no football for me tomorrow.

In that light, a beer is not really appropriate for this post, as a wedding ceremony calls for slightly more class.  There is, in the end, only one beverage that fits the bill.  Our society has used it to toast occasions of celebration for most of the past century, and it is indelibly linked with the world of sports through the pomp of post-championship celebrations.  That beverage is, of course, champagne, and I'm naming it as my wedding reception booze-o-the-week.

Champagne is very simple.  Just bottle a wine before primary fermentation is completed, or add a little sugar to the bottle to create a secondary fermentation.  Carbonation is formed, and vua la, sparkling wine.  For it to be truly champagne, it must come from the Champagne region of France, but average Americans have grown to call essentially all sparkling wines "champagne" (suck it, France). Are there bubbles?  Then it's champagne to me.

Champagne, like most wines, gives me a splitting headache, so I wont have all that much tomorrow, but I definitely will be toasting the bride and groom.

Congratulations Mandy and Erik!

also

Happy Friday!  Go Buffs, beat the Lambs!

No comments: