Now that was fun!

Yippee! Buddha has reappeared! Turns out the little scamp had jumped off the fence into a neighbor's yard and couldn't get back over the fence. Since they have a similar looking cat, they didn't really notice they had two long haired black cats until Wednesday.

To celebrate his homecoming, there was one hell of a bash at our house last night. Well, it was really our 'going away' party, but it was a multi-purpose event: Buddha's homecoming, Michael's birthday and Karen's birthday were celebrated as well. This photo doesn't really show the full effect, but let's just say that we have twice as much recycling this week as will fit in our bin. LOL

Anyway, I promised the scoop on Ashley's in Ann Arbor: this place was amazing. They have a beer menu much like that at the Maiden at Big Sur (see previous post) but they have taken it a step further. Using a scale of 0 to 10, they attach a "flavor rating" to every beer they pour so that you can look up a beer that you like and find others with a similar flavor. A zero has "little to no flavor or body", a 4 "some hop, medium flavor and body, a 7 is "robust with lots of body", and a 10 is "full flavored and full bodied". For example, Anchor Steam gets a rating of 4. Other beers they offer that are also rated a 4 include Cooper's Pale Ale from Australia, Lagunitas Pils (Petaluma, CA), Hoegaarden (Belgium), and Avery 14er ESB (Boulder, CO). It's a nice way to try new things without worrying about whether or not you'll like it. The menu also offers a "Beer 101" index.

Ashley's offers 70 beers on draught, 70 in bottles, and 60 single malt scotches. They have "rotating taps" that offer a variety of beers they might not normally carry. When we visited, they had beers from Darkhorse Brewing, Jolly Pumpkin Ales, Kalamazoo Brewing, Short's Brewing and Rogue Ales. They don't allow beers to be returned based on flavor or personal preference, but any beer on draught can be sampled for free. Draft flights of 4 beers are also an option; we tried the Michigan Micro flight on our visit.

I have a feeling I'm going to be spending a ridiculous amount of time at Ashley's...