Somehow, both of my handknit hats have disappeared over the past few weeks. I had been reduced to wearing either a black polar fleece hat with a ridiculous tassle... or a black polar fleece hat with a ridiculous Andean brim. Both were so tragic I braved frostbite rather than wear them. Then I remembered that I knew how to knit, so I could solve the problem without a trip to the mall with my debit card. It could be solved with a trip to the yarn store. With my credit card. Completely different. Definitely more respectable. One hilariously oversized ball (250g!!!) of Cascade's Eco Wool later, we almost have an earflap hat, knit according to the Thorpe pattern. Tassels and border to come.
And now, the beer. This week's option is Grand River Brewing's Russian Gun Imperial Stout. I'm drinking this against my better judgment, following a Beerfest at the Danforth's Only Café. I tried way too many beers there, including at least one other imperial stout (from Nickel Brook, if memory serves.) Imperial stouts have one of the more convoluted origin stories in beer-dom. It's a style originally brewed by a British brewery for export to the Russian court of the Prussian-born Catherine the Great. So, they're only a fraction as Russian as those clever craft brew names would have you think. But brewers are only human, and nobody can resist a good Communist pun. Imperial stouts are usually dark, rich and high in alcohol. This one is all that, with a taste like molasses and a hint of something smoky, like charcoal. It's a beer you could survive on, whether that means getting to the weekend or reading to the end of The Brothers Karamazov.
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