Question, Strange-flavored Beer

It occurs to me that I am not the only author who has written more than one series. (Really, Mary Monica? How amazing!) What I mean is, the focus of my current series is needlework. But I also wrote a series featuring a fifteenth-century nun living in northern Oxfordshire, and another featuring a police detective whose wealthy wife raised Arabian horses. I hardly ever get to use that acquired expertise in my current series. It also occurs to me that many non-authors have expertise or have done studies in areas that they never get to use in their current occupations. How about some of you reading this tell us in the commentary what serious interest(s) you have that you never, or no longer, get to display?

I would like a set of my running characters in my Betsy Devonshire series to have a dog. They are Jill and Lars Larson, who have a toddler daughter, Emma Beth, and will soon have a new addition, Erik Lars. I would like to ask my readers to invent the dog. Is she (he) a purebred – what breed? Is he (she) a mutt? How did they acquire the animal? A chance wanderer? Humane Society? Rescue? Breeder? What is his (her) name? This isn’t exactly a contest, but the one I like best will turn up in the book, either Blackwork (in progress) or Buttons and Bones (being researched). Write to me via e-mail, you’ll find my address at my web site, Monica-Ferris.com.

I had company last night, a beer tasting party. It ran late, so I didn’t get to write a post for this morning. I will only say that The Four Firkins beer, ale and wine shop continues to amaze. Last night we had some interesting stout and a barleywine that would have been better if the brewmaster had a lighter hand with the hops. But we also had the Duchesse de Bourgogne, a very fruity wine with no hops at all. It tasted like new wine. There was Linderman’s Lambic, made of an ancient recipe. Antique beers didn't have yeast that came in packages. The makers of beer (and wine - and bread, too) would start the process, then put it out in the air to capture wild yeasts floating by. Often the result was not happy. So with Lambics they would add fruit and brew it again. This was a Kreik or cherry beer. It is made without hops. It tasted very much like an inexpensive cherry soda or a cherry cough syrup, not at all like beer. But then there was Lefman’s Lambic Kreik, also without hops and flavored with cherries. It tastes strongly of cherries but is not too sweet, and with complex undertones. Again it does not taste like a beer – well, it’s called an ale – at all! I thought it was fabulous!

I love my work.