Beer Review: Blue Moon Grand Cru Limited Edition 2009 8.2% ABV

Originally handwritten on January 5, 2010 with a Pilot VPen F point with light blue ink in a Writer’s Bloc small notebook with dotted lines.

Blue Moon (owned by Miller, though Beer Advocate categorizes this as owned by Coors) is one of the beers I order when out and about. More and more restaurants and bars are carrying this even if their average brew is your Coors or Budweiser-type of beer. Of the Blue Moon varieties out there, I think Full Moon is my favorite. Tonight’s review is on the limited edition Grand Cru 2009.

This poured a hazy, light yellow-orange. Very light head with light lacing. Nose was a typical witbier with bouquet of yeast, citrus, and a little spice. I could taste the orange with faint spice. What makes this stand out head and shoulders above the typical Blue Moon fare was the very definite alcohol bite, as evidenced by the 8.2% ABV. Any warmth I got from this was without a doubt from the alcohol. This might put off a lot of drinkers, but not me. There was a bit of a bitter aftertaste but fortunately it dissolved quickly into the typical witbier I so like.

Beer advocate reviewers gave it a B- (worthy). I’m going to give it an A- or 4.25 mugs.

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Beer Review: Bell’s Third Coast Ale 10.2% ABV

Originally handwritten January 3, 2010 with my beautiful yellow Pilot Vanishing Point F nib with Diamine Majestic Blue ink.

Coming back to Bell’s Brewery, this time I tried their seasonal (November to April) brew, Third Coast Ale.

This beer pours a cloudy reddish brown color. I am a big fan of unfiltered beers, so I’m already anticipating that I’ll like this beer. There was a thin head but there was decent lacing down the glass as I drank it. There are flecks of sediment suspended throughout.

The nose is a little sweet. There’s a thick mouthfeel to this beer, and I get a strong hoppy/bitter character to it, but it recedes quickly. It doesn’t have the strong alcohol taste as DFH World Wide Stout or Fort (does anything?), but there’s a definite warmth here.

Beer Advocate reviewers gave this an A- (very good). I found this beer quite tasty and would love to drink more of it in the future. Bell’s consistently makes good beer. I’m giving it an A or 4.5 mugs.

Beer Review: Rogue Chocolate Stout 6.0% ABV

Originally handwritten January 2, 2010

Rogue is another of my favorite breweries. This time I gave their Chocolate Stout a try.

This beer pours thick and dark with a brown head that retains some bubbles and lacing. Something that is fun about developing a stout palate is whenever I pour one, it’s always very pretty to watch.

This is a strong tasting beer. I don’t detect any chocolate (boo), but neither do I taste coffee, which is always a danger with stouts. While the beer tastes good, it does have a strong aftertaste that will take some getting used to.

Beer Advocate reviewers give this an A (outstanding), while the brothers give it an A+ (world class). For now, I’m giving it a B+ or 4 mugs. I will likely try this beer again as my palate develops.

Beer Review: Bell’s Sparkling Ale 8.2% ABV

Originally handwritten on December 24, 2009

Coming back to one of my favorite breweries, Bell’s released a Sparkling Ale (no link at the Bells website, unfortunately) this fall. The staff at the Manassas Total Wine gave it a good recommendation.

The ale poured a very clear light golden-orange color. It was effervescent with a bit of a hominy smell. It had a slightly bitter aftertaste, so likely too much hops for my liking. I ended up drinking the whole six pack over a period of a few weeks and I’m not sure how I feel about it. It is a drinkable beer but the hominy smell may be putting me off too much to truly enjoy it.

Beer Advocate reviewers give this a B+ (very good) rating. I am going to give it a B- or 3.5 mugs.

Beer Review: Ommegang Witte 5.1% ABV

Originally handwritten on December 22, 2009

Ommegang is one of my favorite breweries. No surprise there as their specialty is the belgian-style beer. My favorite of the brew is again, no surprise, their Witte ale, though I’ve enjoyed all their year-round brews and would love to try as many of their seasonals as possible, especially the Chocolate Indulgence.

The Witte beer pours a standard cloudy, pale yellow characteristic of witbiers. It has a lot of carbonation with a slight citrus, classic wheat bouquet. The taste is light, crisp, and very refreshing. I tried this beer originally at a beer festival held at the Maryland Zoo in 2009 and fell in love with it. I have bought it several times since then and will continue to as long as they produce it!

Beer Advocate reviewers rate this B+ (very good) overall, whereas the brothers rate it as a B-. I’m giving it a higher rating of an A or 4.5 mugs.

Beer Review: Unibroue Blanche de Chambly 5% ABV

Originally written on December 8, 2009.

Canada’s Unibroue always has interesting sounding beers every time I see the label in the stores. I have three to review, one of which is Blanche de Chambly, categorized as a white ale, so odds are I’m going to like it!

The beer poured a pale, golden yellow, fairly clear. It had a clean finish, nice carbonation, with a bit of tartness so it reminded me a little of a cider but without the sweetness that comes with most ciders. While I didn’t find the taste unique, it is quenching, satisfying, and I would happily drink again (have one in the fridge now as I write this).

Beer Advocate reviewers give this a B+, and the Brothers agree, rating it a B+, as well. I will also give it a B+ or 4 mugs.

Beer Review: Dogfish Head Fort 18% ABV

Originally written on November 22, 2009 with an updated tasting on January 6, 2010.

My first impression of Dogfish Head’s Fort was similar to the same brewery’s World Wide Stout the second time around—a serious alcohol bite. And at 18% ABV, that’s no joke. This beer poured an amber orange, slightly cloudy color. DFH says they brewed this as a Belgian ale base with a ton of raspberries. They aren’t kidding. This is one of the few beers that I can smell and detect something other than beer. It smelled like delicious raspberries.

The first taste is of unsweet raspberries followed by the alcohol burn that travels to the tummy. The taste reminds me of a modified Mind Eraser shot we used to drink that replaced the Kahlua with Chambord. Halfway through my bottle of this (I was an idiot and didn’t think 18% was that much and in size like a wine bottle, that’s quite a buzz), my husband returned from running errands and brought me home a banana split Blizzard from Dairy Queen. Serendipity! Drinking Fort with something sweet cut back the alcohol burn quite a bit and brought more sweetness to the raspberries.

For my second tasting earlier this week, we were at Dogfish Head Alehouse in Chantilly VA where they had it on tap. The bartender poured the beer into a snifter glass. It looked much redder and less cloudy here.The first taste was sweeter than I remembered, which actually makes this beer even more dangerous than I originally thought. With such a fruity, wine-cooler look and sweet taste, it’s easy to forget that this is not a beer for wimps. You need a designated driver for this one! After two Forts, I was glad I had my husband to drive me home. Despite it being quite cold outside, the Fort kept me mighty warm all night.

All in all, I find this a dramatic, beautiful, interesting beer. Dogfish Head suggests that this is a good beer to lay down, and as such I have a bottle in the fridge for any sort of Fort emergencies, and one in reserve. Beer Advocate reviewers give this a B, the Brothers give it a B+. I love fruity, Belgian, high alcohol beers so this is an A+ or 5 mugs.

Beer Review: Bell’s Cherry Stout 7.0% ABV

Written originally by hand on November 21, 2009.

Here’s another from Bell’s Brewery, but quite a departure from the Winter White Ale! This poured a very dark blood red brown color, nearly red black. I could detect a cherry aroma, which in most beers I’m not very good detecting anything much beyond “yep, that’s beer.”

My first taste was very tart and sour–I liked this! It had a very faint coffee finish (not to my liking, unsurprisingly), but it didn’t render the beer undrinkable for me. There was a significant aftertaste but it wasn’t unpleasant. Other reviewers detected chocolate, but I didn’t, unfortunately. However, this is a flavorful, hearty stout I’ll drink again.

Beer Advocate reviewers gave this a B (good). I’m giving it the same or 3.75 mugs.

Beer Review: Brouwerij Huyghe Floris Wit-Blanche 5% ABV

Written originally by hand on November 21, 2009, using my Pilot Lucina medium nib fountain pen in Doane Paper utility notebook

Floris Wit-Blanche from Brouwerij Huyghe comes with a pretty label. It has a light yellow color similar to Hoegaarden. This is an unfiltered beer with visible yeast floating throughout. I didn’t read the bottle that said to pour carefully, but in general, I like to pour my unfiltered beers as they are as I like them precisely for their cloudy appearance. However, I mention the visible yeast so it doesn’t alarm anyone when trying this beer: the floaters are intentional!

Taste was similar to Hoegaarden, with notes of citrus and spices. It wasn’t very carbonated, head wasn’t remarkable, and there wasn’t really any lacing on my glass. I don’t know how these contribute to a beer other than appearance, but I am including it.

I found this beer to be delicious, light, and refreshing, with no trace of bitterness or alcohol–just smooth and tasty. I would love to drink this beer again. I haven’t found it again on repeat trips to Total Wine, but I look for it each time I shop.

Beer Advocate reviewers rated this at B (good). I’m rating it a little higher at an A- or 4.25 mugs.

Beer Review: Bell’s Winter White Ale 5.0% ABV

Written originally by hand on November 21, 2009, using my Pilot Lucina medium nib fountain pen in Doane Paper utility notebook.

Bell’s Brewery makes a lot of beers that I find quite tasty. Their seasonal Winter White Ale would be at the top of this list. After I originally wrote this review, A friend mentioned he liked this at a beer dinner that I was unable to attend last December, so I picked up a six pack for him as well as for myself on one of my last trips to Total Wine. I would buy this beer every time I went beer shopping, so good thing for my pocketbook this is a seasonal.

This is an unfiltered witbier. It poured a light golden yellow color with a moderate head for this type of beer and very light lacing. Bell’s created this using a blend of hefeweizen and belgian-style yeasts. The ale had a light citrus and spice flavor typical of witbiers/hefeweizens with a bit of a hoppy taste, but still leaving a crisp clean finish. I liked its carbonation and felt like it left my palate cleansed, thus consider this a very refreshing beer that I would enjoy year round. A good beer to drink when tired and thirsty!

Beer Advocate reviewers give this a B (good) rating. I’m giving it an A+ or 5 mugs. I would love to hoard bottles of this beer and call them my preciouses.

Beer Review: Magic Hat Circus Boy Hefeweizen 4.4% ABV

Originally handwritten on November 8, 2009

I do like the beers I’ve tried from Magic Hat, including Circus Boy. This beer poured a golden yellow color. There wasn’t much of a head and I didn’t notice very much lacing. Despite it being categorized as an unfiltered American wheat beer, it wasn’t very cloudy. This is cosmetic though, so I try not to hold it against the beer.

The taste was crisp, clean, light, slightly citrusy, with very little aftertaste. I would drink this beer again.

Beer Advocate reviewers rate this as a B- (worthy), while the BA Bros. rate it at A- (excellent). I’m giving it a B+ or 4 mugs.

Beer Reviews

I love beer. I love pens. I love paper. In an effort to combine all three with the idea to (a) improve my beer palate, (b) try out my many beautiful fountain pens and inks, (c) and make use of my lovely papers, I decided to make notes on the beers I try. I buy most of these at Total Wine & More because I can buy the beers in single bottles, which is the best way to sample beers: no worries if I don’t like it. It’s a lot easier to pour half a beer down the drain than have five beers left in my fridge waiting for the perfect guest to arrive who might like it enough to finish the pack.

A warning though: I don’t have a very sophisticated palate and don’t always know how to describe what I taste. I hope that by taking notes I can improve this. When possible, I will link to Beer Advocate where people much more experienced and sophisticated offer their reviews. I refer to this site a lot as it is helps me to read what other people detect in the taste so I can try to find that particular flavor in what I’m drinking too.

As far as my tastes go, I like most wit biers, hefeweizens/unfiltered wheats, belgians (including lambics), milk/chocolate stouts. I don’t like hoppy beers, hence most IPAs leave me cold. I don’t like coffee, which makes developing my stout/porter palate difficult, though I’ve found many recently that I really enjoy. Beers I like in no particular order: Shiner Bock, Newcastle, Kirin, Taj Mahal, Shenandoah Brewing Company’s Chocolate Donut Stout and Stonyman Oatmeal Stout, Hoegaarden, Dogfish Head Fort and World Wide Stout. Craft breweries that I like a lot are Dogfish Head (non-IPA beers, of course), Bells, Magic Hat, Rogue, New Holland, and Ommegang.

My husband I recently went to make our own brews. He had done this before and made a vanilla porter that was well liked by a lot of our friends. Our current beer that’s fermenting is a modified monster Belgian brown that we’ll be calling Vorpal Bunny. In the process of trying to make a beer we’d both like (he likes stouts, I like wheats; he likes coffee, I like fruity/sweet/higher alcohol), we added some more hops to the batch on the advice of the brew master on site at Shenandoah Brewing Company. We’ll be bottling this up later in January 2010.

In general, I’m only going to post reviews of beers I like for now. As I’ve said, my palate isn’t very developed and I don’t think it is fair to give an unfavorable review of a beer when I don’t know much about beers to begin with. I’m sticking with the idea that I know what I like and that’s what I want to focus my reviews on.

I love recommendations so please feel free to comment on my reviews to suggest beers for me to search out!

I will also share what pen and paper I used when I jotted down my original notes.

Success! eBooks syncing with Sony eReader PRS-600

In my first post about my Sony eReader PRS-600 Touch, I mentioned some problems I had syncing up some small press eBooks I purchased by Cindy Jacks. I also found I had some problems with syncing up free chapters of the book Heat Wave by fictional character, Richard Castle, from ABC’s Castle TV series.

Ellen, A commenter on my first post, asked about ebookstores that worked in Canada. In searching for solutions (I didn’t have a lot of luck), I found Mobileread.com that looked interesting and I added it to my RSS feed. A thread came up talking about a new ebookstore Shortcovers.com that offered ePUB books. In checking it out, I saw the store was offering a free book. I love free! In order to get the book onto my Sony Touch, I had to install Adobe Digital Editions and use that library software to transfer to my Touch directly. Once I figured out I could add PDF and ePUB books to the Adobe Digital Editions library I had stored on my hard drive it struck me that I could use the same method to transfer my “trouble” books.

Sure enough, this worked! So the problem is with the Sony eBook Library and not the PRS-600 Touch. I’m very happy now that I can support more small press authors. I also was able to transfer some PDF versions of some technical communication magazines I’m subscribed to as well as various other reference material PDFs I created myself.

In other eReader news, I finished my first ebook, Charlaine Harris’s Dead Until Dark, the first book in the Sookie Stackhouse series. I look forward to reading more in the series.

Using the eReader PRS-600

Today was my first opportunity to read for a length of time. I must say that it was a pleasant experience. I started reading Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris during my lunch break.

It was easy to hold and change pages with my left hand. I could also set it flat on the table and read from there without any problems. Visibility was nice, text was crisp, spacing was good. There’s a slight flicker as it changes pages. This is not a detraction for me because there’s always some sort of interruption when turning a page of a paper book, and I had read about this in reviews of other eReaders, so knew what to expect. There is a bit more flicker when pages have graphics on them, like a digital comic.

I even got to take advantage of the notes feature as I got a great character idea for a story I plan to write, so I pressed the home button, took out my stylus, and hand wrote a quick note to myself, then went back to my book.

Fantastic! No more misplaced notes or forgetting my notebook or rummaging to find a pen. Just use my eReader.

Update on my eReader

Just a quick update regarding my review of the Sony eReader PRS-600 Touch Edition. One of the ebooks I was having a hard time transferring finally transferred (Wheaton’s Sunken Treasures), it just took a really long time. Still troubleshooting the other two books.

Sony eReader Touch PRS-600

I pre-ordered this a few weeks ago when I learned it would be shipping after 8/31/09. Imagine my surprise when it showed up on Friday 8/28!

I had gone back and forth between what eReader to buy: Kindle or Sony. I have been watching Kindle since it first came out around two years ago. I compared it with the Sony eReader 505 and 700 and decided I would get the 700. When I finally decided to just take the plunge, I found the 700 was no long available. Instead, the two that would be available were the PRS-300 Pocket version and the PRS-600 Touch version.

Before I continue, I must confess that I am a huge Amazon.com fan. I have always gotten exceptional service with them. Even when I’ve had to contact customer service, I’ve always gotten considerate, helpful, and prompt treatment. Given a choice, I nearly always pick Amazon. So why didn’t I pick Amazon this time? Choice. I like knowing I have other options. Granted, Amazon is usually the most cost effective (lower prices, often free shipping, etc.). I love my iPod and am generally happy with iTunes software. But if I’m given a choice, I’ll buy my music from Amazon because their digital music can be played on more than just the iPod—I may one day go with another MP3 player—and is DRM-free.

Because of this, I do not understand why Amazon made their e-books proprietary when everywhere else the company subverts proprietary systems. I go to Amazon because I want to, not because I have to, and in the end, that was the biggest reason why I did not choose Kindle. I do not want to be stuck with Kindle if I invest money in a digital library. It’s the library people want to invest in, not the hardware we use to read it! The same goes for our music collections. It’s bad enough I bought ebooks via ereader.com that can only be viewed on a Palm platform (for instance). I don’t use a Palm OS phone anymore so these books I paid for are virtually unusable. Argh! Note: ereader.com would be awesome if they would open their formats to other versions—same with Mobipocket. I know Mobipocket is owned by Amazon, but still . . . usable by most other eReaders except Sony? Get real.

The Sony eReaders claim to support different eReader formats, such as ePUB, PDF, and RTF. I am not an expert on gadgets or various formats out there in the industry, so forgive me if I leave something out. This is just a regular person’s perspective based on what (little) I can find on the PRS-300 and PRS-600.

Which brings me to my next point, and in some way, I can only blame myself. I’m having a problem with syncing up certain PDFs/ePUBs to my Touch. This is why I don’t normally buy something that is so new. I like to wait until there’s more documentation out there (yes, I use info sites to help with quests when I play MMORPGs too). When I first noticed the problem, I thought it was just a sync issue in general on Sunday morning. I set the thing to sync and waited an hour only to see the sync stuck in processing mode. I left to go to a friend’s birthday brunch and when I came home . . . still stuck in processing mode. I rebooted the computer and tried again. Still stuck processing. Hmm. This didn’t happen earlier on Saturday when I synced up with books I bought at Sony’s ebook store or the Google ePUB free books, nor did it happen when I synced up a couple of freebie PDF comics. Going to Sony’s site didn’t really help. The online chat tech was very courteous, but the suggestion to uninstall eLibrary while in safe mode, then reinstall, didn’t work, and, might I add, doing anything in safe mode, much less getting to safe mode, is a frustrating endeavor.

So, back to troubleshooting by myself. I had previously deleted the excerpts that came installed on my Touch because they were in German. Fortunately, I hadn’t deleted them from my Library on my computer. I transferred them back via the old drag and drop process and it transferred instantly. I tested it with some of my own pictures. Instant success. I tried it with Wil Wheaton’s Sunken Treasures I downloaded from Lulu for five bucks: stuck. I tried it with Cindy Jack’s Red Shoes Collection from Freya’s Bower: stuck. The same with Cindy Jack’s Point of Distraction from Lyrical Press: stuck. Both version’s of the latter book—EPUB and PDF—stuck. I can view the books using the eLibrary software, I just can’t get it to sync onto my Touch. I’m pretty confident there’s a fix for this or there will be, but I’m bummed because I specifically waited to check out these books until I got an eReader. I love the idea of supporting small press—something I one day hope to be a part of.

If anyone out there has some advice for me, I’d appreciate it. Otherwise, I’ll do my best to wait patiently for a fix if this is, indeed, and unintended bug of Sony’s (or Lulu, or Lyrical Press, or Freya’s Bower).

I don’t want to end this review on a negative note. After all, this is a brand spankin’ new product, there’s bound to be issues that need to be resolved. Anyone who plays MMORPGs at first release (or after a new extensive update/patch) knows this very well. So . . .

There’s some really neat features with the PRS-600 Touch:

• I can hand write notes with the stylus. Yes, even in today’s keyboard driven society, sometimes it really is easier to just write something by hand. I can also type a note with the handy keyboard on the touch screen if I don’t want to write by hand.
• When I want to turn the page, I can sweep my thumb right or left, much like I do with my Samsung Instinct, or others do with their iPhones. I can also use the buttons at the bottom of the reader.
• While eInk technology is still only available in black and gray, a good quality picture looks just as good in the reader.
• The reader also plays MP3s if headphones are used (and sounds very nice), so I can listen to music while reading. When I read, I’m pretty good at tuning out the rest of the world no matter how loud (just ask my roommates who would have band practice then ask for my opinion on how it sounded. Me: “You were playing?” Them: “. . .” Neighbors: “I hate practice nights.”), but sometimes it is nice to have my choice of noises going on in the background. I plan to load it up with easy listening music—something like Judas Priest, maybe?
• I can highlight text in the book I’m reading and it will be saved as a text memo. I haven’t played with this too much but I am very much interested in this feature because in the past I’ve always been frustrated when I’d want to remember something I just read and of course, didn’t have paper/pen handy to take care of it.
• There’s a dictionary handy. This will be very useful the next time I read Foucault’s Pendulum.
• I can change orientation if I want, from portrait to landscape.
• This thing is is thin! It will be MUCH easier to put this in my purse. Any purse I buy must be able to hold a paperback in a book cover as well as other key items. The Touch makes my purse options that much more open.
• Zoom in/out. This doesn’t work so well on some PDFs, especially comics, because zooming in makes the text go away, but this is a PDF problem if I understand the information I’ve read about this. But otherwise, the zoom in/out feature is useful.
• Speaking of PDFs, on the other hand, I understand that Sony’s eReaders handle PDFs better than Kindle. I’m not going into detail here, but if I find the link where the conversion process is explained and problems with it detailed, I’ll update this post.
• I can check out books from the library. Because of Sony’s open format (a HUGE factor for me), I have more options on where I get my books, including if I want to take advantage of the public library.
• When I can finally afford to go back to college, I can buy digital text books. Surely this has to be cheaper than the racket system currently in place.

I look forward to reading about other experiences with eReaders and learning more about what mine can do. By the way, I got mine in red. Yet one more (vanity) example of why choice is so important to me.

(ETA September 15, 2009: Check out my syncing success post for an update to my problem syncing small press items)

Articles at Sequential Tart

Here’s some links to articles I’ve written or contributed to for Sequential Tart.

April 20, 2009: Tart Tastes: Bande Desinee
April 13, 2009: The Report Card: B.P.M.: Beats Per Minute
November 24, 2008: Tart To Heart: Linus Van Pelt Was On To Something
November 03, 2008: Tart Tastes: Kazu Kibuishi
October 20, 2008: On My Bookshelf: Spooky Short Stories and a Dark Tower
September 22, 2008: Secret Origin of a Fangirl: Conquering the Web One Comic at a Time
September 15, 2008: Tart Time Machine: Pride, Prejudice, and Other Persuasions: Exploring the Works of Jane Austen
September 08, 2008: Tart To Heart: Comics Are For, By, and About Girls
August 04, 2008: Interview: London Horror Comic: John-Paul Kamath
July 21, 2008: Read This Or Die: Girl Genius: Mad science, steampunk, and comics! Oh my!
July 21, 2008: The Battlestar Galactica Roundtable: Five Tarts Sound Off on BSG Season Four
July 07, 2008: Tart To Heart: The Seventh Annual Tartie Awards
July 07, 2008: The Report Card: Max
June 30, 2008: Tart To Heart: These Are the Things We Love
June 09, 2008: Read This Or Die: 2008 Eisner Nominees
May 19, 2008: The Report Card: Gothic Sports Volume 1
May 12, 2008: The Report Card: Korgi Book 1
April 21, 2008: The Report Card: Confessions of a Blabbermouth
April 21, 2008: The Report Card: Deja Dead
April 07, 2008: The Report Card: Cool Jerk Volume 1: Hodabeast
February 11, 2008: Tart Time Machine: Loving Lovers: Romance in Pop Culture, Part One
January 14, 2008: Interview: GU Comics: Woody Hearn
January 07, 2008: Interview: Cheshire Crossing: Andy Weir
December 1, 2006: CapClave ’06

Hello Kitty Hi-Tec-C gel pen

Note: I posted this originally on my Live Journal on March 1, 2009, so I’m hoping this will archive correctly since I want to use this blog for reviews.

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I received an adorable pen from Jet Pens!

The Pilot Hi-Tec-C reminds me of why I loved fine point pens for so many years. This particular pen is from the Hello Kitty Limited Edition set of pens. I ended up buying the whole set in the 0.4 mm point. The figurines are removable so can be placed on other Hi-Tec-C pens when the current pens run out.

I haven’t used many fine point pens very much these days mostly because my cursive has deteriorated due to working so much on the computer. I print a lot, but don’t really like my printing in fine point. In general, 0.5 mm and higher is my preference when I print. However, this particular pen glides very smoothly on both papers I sampled without a lot of drag or scratching, and encourages me to write more on paper just to enjoy how pleasing it feels.

This particular pen is the 0.3 mm point in aqua blue. I love pens, and I especially love pens that aren’t the standard blue, black, and red. This pen will definitely make its way into my regular rotation when I’m at work or editing for Sequential Tart

Sylvan, my rat, looks on while I take pictures of the pen and the writing samples.