Joe Chimay

Last night I wanted to find some libations to go with watching baseball and vice presidential debates, but I didn't have a bottle opener or a corkscrew and my hotel room didn't have a fridge, so my options were basically beer in a can or a bottle wine with a screwtop. The store also had bottles of Belgian beer (Chimay) with a corkscrew, so I picked up one of their Abbey ales that was supposed to be served "at cellar temperatures" (45-50 degrees F). And it had an easy open champagne-style cork, so it didn't require a bottle opener.

The opportunity to pay ten dollars for a bottle of beer doesn't present itself often to me, so I got the bottle and took it back to my room. Even though it costs almost as much as I usually pay for a 12-pack, the Chimay was smooth and rich and quite satisfying, even being drunk from those small plastic cups they provide at chain hotels. One 750ml bottle lasted for three hours, because this ale is designed to be sipped like liquor instead of chugged like Bud Lite.

As far as the ballgames, I caught the end of the Rays-White Sox game (which was pretty good), the entire Phillies-Brewers game (which wasn't that good), and most of the Cubs-Dodgers game (which was even worse). National league baseball is so boring. Luckily I was able to flip between the games and the debate.

As far as the VP debate, I thought Palin did okay. She came across like a playlist of Republican talking points set on "shuffle", but that probably played to the Republican base ("tax and spend, cut and run, hockey mom, Joe Sixpack" = she's just like us!). It was obvious that Biden was playing defense, and trying to outline the differences between Obama and McCain, and succeeded well at that, but didn't get Palin to say anything too incriminating. She was mostly held back by the Republican policies she was forced to depend, while Biden had the issues on his side. All in all, it wasn't a real game-changer in the presidential race, but that probably favors the party that's already leading in the polls with just one more month until Election Day.

I can't deal with Sarah Palin's speaking voice (fingernails on a chalkboard), so I kept muting my TV while she was speaking and letting the closed caption write out the words for me. Right wing talking points seem a little more palatable when you don't hear them spoken out loud in a grating church-lady voice!