{"id":7433,"date":"2017-12-14T22:33:43","date_gmt":"2017-12-15T04:33:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/?p=7433"},"modified":"2018-01-01T13:19:16","modified_gmt":"2018-01-01T19:19:16","slug":"12-beers-of-christmas-2-rogue-yellow-snow-pilsner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/golf\/lifestyle\/7433\/12-beers-of-christmas-2-rogue-yellow-snow-pilsner","title":{"rendered":"12 Beers of Christmas \u2013 2: Rogue Yellow Snow Pilsner"},"content":{"rendered":"

If yesterday\u2019s post dealt with some matters sacred, I suppose it\u2019s only natural we become more profane today. Hence, Yellow Snow Pilsner from Rogue Ales & Spirits of Oregon.<\/p>\n\"Yellow_Snow_Pils_Cans--3\"<\/a>\n

True, more of a winter seasonal than a rip-snorting holiday beer, and one that has undergone the beer equivalent of a sex-change operation: Yellow Snow debuted in 2002, created for the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. But then it was an IPA, and that\u2019s what it has been ever since. Until this year.<\/p>\n

Rogue President Brett Joyce said, \u201cThis year we decided to make a beer reminiscent of our Pacific Northwest winters.\u201d Well, it\u2019s not like Rogue is hurting for IPAs\u2014seven of its 12 year-round beers are IPAs, including the 4 Hop through 8 Hop series.<\/p>\n

Rogue, a west coast institution since 1988, is headquartered in Newport, Oregon, but with outlets in Portland, Washington state and San Francisco. In March the Brewers Association ranked it at 30 among the top 50 craft brewers in the U.S., based on beer sales volume, and the third largest in Oregon behind Deschutes and Full Sail.<\/p>\n

\"Rogue<\/a>Some of Rogue\u2019s beers are available nationwide. It\u2019s probably best known for Dead Guy Ale. I\u2019ve always been fond of its Shakespeare Oatmeal Stout, and in an older piece gave a holiday recommendation to Santa\u2019s Private Reserve<\/a>, a bottled beer with a glow in the dark label. (Shouldn\u2019t every beer have a glow in the dark label, for those times when you\u2019re stumbling in the dark looking for another little drinkee?)<\/p>\n

It can\u2019t be said there\u2019s no sense of humor at work at Rogue, and surely Yellow Snow is a brilliant name for a winter beer. When else, after all, can one see the stuff?<\/p>\n

Now, I\u2019ve been known to occasionally water an area around our house, when the need arises and I\u2019m not inside. The area known, in other words, as outside. While a year-round endeavor, one has to admit there is greater pleasure in the act with snow on the ground. I see what Joyce is getting at.<\/p>\n

The old joke also comes to mind, one revived with each new administration, in which the President calls for an investigation when he sees some yellow snow in front of the White House, in cursive, saying \u201cTrump sucks!\u201d Not that Trump would necessarily trust the FBI with the task, but in the joke the FBI returns with the news that the urine was tested and was unmistakably the Vice-President\u2019s.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t believe Mike Pence would write that in the snow,\u201d says Trump.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, he didn\u2019t,\u201d the FBI investigator says. \u201cWe had the hand-writing analyzed, too, and that\u2019s unquestionably Melania\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know if a hectoring Vermont mom first came up with the don\u2019t-eat-the-yellow-snow warning, but it\u2019s possible, by way of distinguishing it from other toppings. Sugar-on-snow is big at Vermont winter festivals, like cotton candy in summer. People lap up various sugary liquids\u2014albeit mostly maple syrup\u2014poured directly onto snow. (Or shaved ice, if the chamber of commerce is fussy.)<\/p>\n

I suppose it\u2019s possible that those from warmer climes have never actually heard the phrase in situ, and believe it\u2019s something Frank Zappa cooked up. “Watch out where the huskies go, and don’t you eat that yellow snow,\u201d the chorus chants at one point in the Zappa song. Well, we threw in a few bars of \u201cSanta Lucia\u201d yesterday, so let\u2019s be fair:<\/p>\n