Friday Fermentable Liveblog – Science Online wine tasting

I squeezed my way into the Friday Fermentable Science Online 09 edition. Abel Pharmboy would like it to be liveblogged. I’m not much of a liveblogger, but for him it’s all second nature, of course. This is, after all, the guy who liveblogged his vasectomy. I guess I can manage a wine tasting…

Oh, we just also had beer, and nobody seems entirely sure if you’re supposed to have beer before wine or the other way around. That could get interesting.

6:08 PM – there is no wine yet, but I carried a bunch of glasses from one place to another place. They were empty. They are still empty.
6:11 PM – Glasses still empty.
6:13 PM – Still empty. I just met Scicurious. My introductions are too long because I want to mention both my blogs. My T-shirt attracts attention.
6:14 PM – Glasses still empty. I’m bored.
6:15 PM – Empty
6:17 PM – *POP* (wine cork) Woooo! *POP*
6:19 PM – *POP*
6:23 PM – You know, maybe I can be more social. Hold on for a few minutes here… (I’ll publish this part, in case I forget or lose internet connection for the rest)
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6:35 PM – Now I have TWO wine. We’ve been instructed to grab 2 wine glasses, both with white one, one French and one Canadian Californian (This is the only edit I made later on. It was too confusing/funny.). “French left, California right – just like the politics these days”, joked [name I will look up later] [liveblogging is hard!].
6:37 PM – CONTRADICTING INSTRUCTIONS: grab a glass in each hand and liveblog. I…I think I need to put this down so I can drink wine from two glasses…
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6:40 PM – I am learning about oak. California wine is oakier because the barrels are new, and the French use their barrels over and over. PalMD prefers the French wine. I prefer the California wine. (But, Eva, what are they called? Can we get this wine in our local stores? Guys, I have no clue. I’m at the other end of the room, and only remembered which glass is French and which is Californian. I’ll look it up later, okay?)
6:43 PM – Bora just snuck in with a can of coke. Pfffft!
6:44 PM – I downed (blasphemy!!) my French so I have the California wine left to enjoy.
6:45 PM – Abel says to go to the Wine Authorities site and he is now reading from the website. You, too, can read from the website! (I still can’t find the wine. I’m an idiot. Ask me about how long it took me to figure out a seat belt this afternoon.)
6:48 PM – Show of hands. MOST people like the Californian wine.
6:49 PM – Bora: “I’m enjoying being offline.”
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6:52 PM – Red , red wiiiiiine. Stay close to meeee… (We’re digging into the red.)
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7:03 PM – Hm. I don’t know. I don’t have a favourite between the two reds. I just helped pour one of them, though, so I’m leaning towards that one. And “that one” is a Pinot Noir from Oregon. The other one is (also a Pinot Noir) from California. Oh, you know, I’ll find the links later.
7:05 PM – I am not listening and missing out on an awesome story about an inventor and a tongue-depressor or something. This is why I shouldn’t live blog.
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7:11 PM – I am going to copy Janet’s notes on the wine names later. She typed them up. She also took notes at BRITE this afternoon. I am so going to copy her notes before the exam!
7:14 PM – I still don’t have a favourite. I just prefer white wine over red, so it’s difficult to rank my reds. Oh, there is also a webcam by the way. I think we’re live somewhere, but I have no clue where. (I see a “disorganized” theme here…)
7:18 PM – Bjoern mentions cheese. I am instantly distracted from the matter at hand (which is picking your fave of the four. Oh, that was the California white for me.)
7:19 PM – Abel: “We have a lot of wine left, people…” Hahahahaha! Not for LONG!
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7:24 PM – I am live on the internet somewhere and I have NO IDEA WHERE!?! This should be slightly disconcerting, but, otoh [throws horns] WOOOOO!!! (That happened…) Mike Dunford is watching us drink. Or, in my case, type and be distracted.
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7:36 PM – The lady from Sigma Xi asked me (while I was typing) if we were pretty much done with the wine tasting. There are 20 people in this room, and she asked me, while Abel Pharmboy is sitting right there [points]. “I don’t know, you should ask [his real name]” I told her, while pointing. See, the things is – this happens to me a lot. People walk up to me from great distances to ask me for directions. I look like someone who knows what’s going on. And if you look at the rest of this post, it should be pretty clear that I often have no clue what’s going on. Draw your own conclusions. We are done with the wine tasting (I lied – I did know) so I’ll add some wine specifics to this later.