Don's *other* beer... and some cheddar.

So.. here's Don's other beer, which also happens to be one of my old beers as well.. the Chocolate Rambler! Here's a couple action photos I took seconds after I opened a bomber that Don handed over for review the other day...

Here's the area where I opened it..

As you can see, there was a bit of a mess as the very-excited-to-see-me beer gushed forth and tried to jump in my lap.

Here's another shot of the trail-of-destruction as we ran to the sink:

 

..and shortly after that trip, we ended up here:

 

..in the sink. The entire bottle pretty much blew out of the container and I was only able to catch what you see there in the 22oz Bodum glass, which.. well.. isn't even quite half full. 

So.. what'd I think? Well, it was a gusher! No suprise there.. the real suprise was this: It tasted fine!

I taste massive chocolate flavor here.  I *see* the gusher and just *know* it should be infected.. I mean, what else would cause such uncouth behavior? But I get no Brett flavor. No weird sourness. Nothing. Just a really nice, mellow chocolate taste, and low carbonation.. I think the majority of it (the carbonation, not just the beer itself.. ) went down the sink when it exploded. The chocolate is probably more pronounced than my old brew, I would guess because the majority of the carbonation isn't there to layer the beer any more, and the chocolate really gets to storm to the front. Aroma is nondescript.. hard to place. Flavor is so prominent, though. Weird! Quite a good brew... just wish it didn't blow out like that so I could have consumed some more..

In other news, I waxed the Jalapeno cheddar yesterday. This one went much smoother than the last. A few tricks I learned and things were sweet. I put the wheel in the fridge for a couple hours prior to waxing cause it' supposed to make the wax adhere quicker. Which, I think it did. Worked like a charm. I used tinfoil for a protective layer around the stove and counter top and since that stuff won't catch fire like the paper towel I used last time, I was able to put that right up to the edge of the pot on the stove without fear of disaster. Here's a finished shot of the thing:

The label is a little funky with wax, but otherwise, it's good. I'll be able to tune back in to this in two months minimum, it says. One month, twenty nine days to go..

That's all. Now go click my Google Ad, you skinflint!