We arrived back in Houston this morning at 6:30. I got a few hours of sleep on the flight. Our firends Nick and Rene were at the airport to meet us and we got back to the house at about 9:00 AM. The first things we had to do was get the van in for an inspection, get our held mail and go to the grocery store. The latter was the most important since there was no beer in the house. I picked up a six pack of a new brew from St. Arnold brewery (my favorite brewery) called Santos. I decided it would only be appropriate to test this brew in a proper setting. That proper setting is a double bacon cheeseburger with japalenos and fries. Of course, the only place to acquire such a gastronomic bonanza is Miller's. The boys know what I am talking about. So I went and got a take out, including a double cheeseburger for Ginny, and brought it home.
Well, the burger and fries were really good. Naturally. The beer, however, was exceptionally mediocre. I have to admit that St. Arnold's Elissa IPA is one of my favorites, but Santo is not going to find itself in my fridge on a regular basis. I read an article that Matry Beth sent about the brew, but I had a suspicion that there was a llittle too much hype in it. For example, the company is quoted as follows:

"Santo is brewed using pale two-row and pils malted barley, a dash of malted wheat and an addition of dark malt. Saint Arnold uses Hallertau Hersbrucker hops, added to the brew kettle in four separate cycles to create a delicate flavor and aroma. It has an original gravity of 1.045 (11.4° Plato), bitterness of 15 IBU and alcohol content (by volume) of 4.9 percent."

To me, this is marketing bullshit because it really doesn't taste all that good. So this beer gets into my "if you give it to me free and cold I will drink it" category.