Back to Beer: Anderson Valley Brewing Company, Boont Amber Ale

One Woman liked this Beer so much she mistook it for her own baby?!

After an evening of apple cider (that didn't finish too badly--it ended with "drunken" apple cider muffins for breakfast), back to beer feels so good, especially when it's Anderson Valley's Boont Amber Ale.

Brewed in Boonvile, California, Boont is the best known beer from the Anderson Valley Brewing Company. What's cool about this modern brewery (est. 1987) is that they grow hops on their estate (see pics here).

Quickly--stats: 5.8% ABV, and 15 IBUs. From a purely numerical level, this translates to a beer that's just a tad sweet, and not super hoppy at all.

Boont has very gentle carbonation, that allows for a very soft encounter. In terms of flavor, it has a hint of caramel... or was it persimmon with light brown sugar? Dissection, or over analyzing doesn't seem right for this lovely, curvy beer. Boont Amber Ale is so well-rounded! Suddenly, it's not about the malt in relation to the hops, and the nose and the mouth. It's about the chemistry that happened to make this ale that feels so right. As for color, the amber is jewel like, and so pretty. I could have just stared and admired it for a long time, had I not been overcome by the urge to quench my beer thirst with this beauty.

One Woman enjoyed her Boont with Chef Dre's crazy good legendary empanadas and fried green plantains, blessed with the company of poet SR, and a fiddler/photographer CS, who I credit with the genius idea behind today's photo.

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Did you know that the weird animal on the Anderson Valley Brewing Company's label that looks like a bear with antlers is "not a bear," but "a beer"? (Um. Okay, Stoners) Anderson Valley also has its own language that locals developed in the 19th century called Boontling.

Musical pairing of the evening: Jack O' the Clock. Good ol' Americana--quirky, weird, amnesiac folk of found sounds and ballads.