will travel for beer

why am i always so late?

2006-03-14T13:59:00.000-05:00

okay... so we spent the first weekend in march in brooklyn attending split thy skull @ mugs alehouse. definitely a fun time... tons of great beer on tap, albeit a little pricey (3 oz pours for $3.50?), and good people to chat and argue with.

you can check out some pictures here and here... i don't know why my eyes are closed in all the pictures.

after mugs we headed over for a slice of heavenly pizza at difara's. way out of the way, but way worth it. i don't know how i can eat any other pizza ever again! the best part is the guy who makes the pizza is the only one allowed to touch the dough... so he's made every pizza ever there.

after difara's we headed over to barcade... my new favorite bar! how cool is it to drink wicked good beers and play vintage video games? oh, soooo cool.

after many hours of drinking and shenanigans at barcade we headed over to spuyten duyvil for one last beer (cider on cask!) and a cheese plate.

called it a night and headed to christine's in the upper east side.

i can't believe we actually made it alive until 1:30ish am. seriously, i don't think i have ever drank so much beer in one day. definitely an awesome time and this will definitely be something i attend every year.

in other news... we picked up our new car today (well... new to us!)! a 2000 jetta glx. what's up with that stupid check engine light that's always on? anyhow, i said i would never own a vw... only because i was partial to bmw's (i had old beemers.. not fancy new ones), but it is nice to be back with the german engineered car. always fun, and always full of quirks.

drinking :: diet canada dry.... it's 2:30 in the afternoon on a tuesday! i have limits!

phat wednesday.

2006-03-02T18:57:00.000-05:00

if you know me... you know how much i love eli cannon's. you also know that 90% of the time i get the spicy chicken ceaser, hold the onions with dressing on the side. you probably also know that you can usually find us there on tuesday's for tastings...

well, my partner in crime works evenings lately, so we have had to miss the tuesday night tastings... which was a bummer, because this week it was eli's 12th anniversary rolled up into a fat tuesday party. which we missed. so we went on wednesday because that's jim's weekend.

i was so bummed when i read a leftover flyer for the previous night... they gave away a 1 year mug membership!!! for free!!! and you didn't even have to be on the list!!! dang, i knew i should have gone solo.

anyhow, enjoyed good beer, excellent new sandwhich called "the boss" (holy chicken and cheese and ranch deliciousness) and saw several lucky people get offered to start their new mug memberships (including one girl who was drinking a gin & tonic... she wasn't even drinking beer!!! actually... when i think about it... there was an abnormally large number of people there ordering mixed drinks last night...).

seriously bummed because i have been wanting a mug for about forever... i've been on the list for years! we asked for the tab... and carrie came back and offered us our very own mugs... "are you ready to start your mug membership?" i should have responded, "does a bear pee in the woods?" instead, i said "yes! yes! yes!"

so it's official, definitely a phat wednesday. definitely a great way to start of march. mug number 158 please... FINALLY!

drinking :: mikeys01's double ipa. damn this shit is hoppy and so tasty. "yum."

p.s. attended the cambridge brew house game dinner last week. i love me some game and good beer. see pictures here. madness to continue this weekend.... split thy skull @ mugs ale house where i will love me some russian river (did i mention how fabulous blind pig is? no? it is. if you haven't had it get it. now.) and goose island.

ebf hangover.

2006-02-20T19:36:00.000-05:00

so it takes me a week or so to recover from the extreme beer fest, i mean come on! those are strong beers! i'd love to write about it, but i don't remember much... is that bad?

things i do remember....

shane's crazy jokes
jim from offshore pimping a bathrobe
dogfish head festina lente!
pizza port... pizza port... pizza port!!!
don and kevin from illinois & kentucky
seeing so many ba's and even meeting new ones!
winning $5 from ml because he bet me the american flat bread gruit was an oatmeal stout
and hanging out with my non ba friends enjoying fabulous beer and running around like drunk donkeys.

isn't that what it's all about anyhow?

seeing as how i didn't bring my camera, enjoy the ba fest through don's eyes....

when is the american beer fest? not soon enough.

drinking :: woodbridge sauvignon blanc... i've been in such a wine mood lately... which reminds me...

we went to bin 228 in hartford recently, and i drooled... not only because of their excellent wine selection and tasty fontina fondue... but because they serve all their wines and champagnes in the appropriate riedel stemware... ahhh when do i get to go back again? soon please???

twas the night before ebf

2006-02-10T20:54:00.000-05:00

okay so seriously, i haven't logged on this blog in so long that not only did i have to recover my password, but also my username. how embarassing.

anyhow, with an impending nor'easter... what do you do? go to extreme beer fest in boston tomorrow! this will be the second extreme beer fest that we have attended and this year a bunch of people we know are going to be there so it means even more fun... and madness. i am certain that with the combination of friends we have going plus high alchohol beers there is going to be mayhem.... plus a foot of snow.

stay tuned for more details.

drinking :: dinky doo chardonnay. man this chardonay sucks... i am only drinking it because it was free and i got it from work. can you tell it's been a rough week? not only does it suck, but i can't even find a website for it. oh i can't wait to get silly tomorrow.

heaven and hell

2005-12-26T14:09:00.000-05:00

okay number 1. i can't believe that jim or i haven't posted on this thing since september. not only that, all our fun beer travels are now lost... or i am just lazy and don't want to post about them. i can say that i might get better, but i doubt it. so until i actually do you can visit this page regularly and see nothing posted.

ANYHOW. christmas & beer... that's what i really want to talk about. apparently i have been very good this year. santa brought me a bottle of goose island imperial ipa which is fanfuckingtastic. it's so good i had to swear. it's so fruity and nice. i can't wait to drink it, but at the same time i don't want to drink it because i want to have another. dilemmas.

second good santa present... trip to vermont! we leave on wednesday. i am so excited. i haven't been to burlington in a couple years, plus not only will i drink tasty vermont beer but i might go riding at stowe too if the weather is right.

we'll be back from vermont on friday, then for new years eve we are heading up to willimantic brewing company for festive fun with fabulous ipa's and the option to get a vertical tasting of the whammer.

so yeah. we still like beer, and we still travel. we are just real lackidasical about blogging about it... oh wait, i almost forgot! last night we headed up to my favorite bar the moan and dove in amherst, ma. because they had the dogfish dinner on friday, they had lots of dogfish on tap and you could get a "heaven and hell" which was world wide stout and 120 minute "black and tan" style. i opted out of that one... because i was driving. jim got TWO! i got a cantillon grand cru and two cambridge brewing company kolsch... yum. when do i get to go to moan and dove again?

quickly... recap since september... what i remember.... NEBF in boston with a trip to the publick house right after and sunset grill and tap the next day (sunset has way too much going on there, but damn... i love the publick house). multiple thursday nights at eli's (we watched some girl drink ufo out of a growler white trash style). many many trips to my favorite cambridge brew house to drink the kolsch, the dopa, and even try their new winter/belgian style beer... i can't wait for the double esb to come out soon.

what else did we do? i don't remember. sorry. i'll try to get better at this. maybe. if i can think about it conciously.

1 day till vermont. woo hoo!

it's about effing time.

2005-09-23T09:08:00.000-04:00

that my partner in crime posted about our adventures in bocce, beer, sun, sweat, and driving.

see more pictures here.

read about the tournament in an "official" pubilication here.

next year, we are coming back with a vengence. (did i spell that right?) :)

oh, and we are going to the big e today. beers all around! i am sure i will have plenty of tales tomorrow.

drinking :: nothing. it's 9:13 am.

dogmotherfuckinfishheadyo

2005-09-21T20:17:00.000-04:00

bocce tournament itinerary:

friday 7:41am
leave home late en route to rehoboth beach, DE

friday 1:15pm
stuck in traffic behind a hazmat emergency, NJ turnpike is shut down. call dogfish head brewpub who tell us to go straight to the brewery and skip the sign-in

friday 3:50pm
arrive dogfish head brewery, milton DE. put on our capes and crowns and get our first glass of chicory stout. yummy beer injected with hi-test mexican coffee. good way to start out our meteoric rise to the top of the bocce ranks.

friday 5:00pm
one slice of pizza in the gut (tried to get more, but the ravenous monsters ate it all) and about 3 more punkin ales. time to play, we're the first game in the bracket.. we're playing the bocce beer monks. get ridiculously schooled 7-2 in record time. first losing team in the history of the bocce tournament. discuss our second chance in the losers' bracket.

friday 5:25pm
drink-away-the-loss program commences. lost count. punkin, shelter, chicory, 60. repeat. play ping pong. sweat.

friday 7:00pm
bocce wraps up and sam calagione brings out the big guns.. liquor de malt, midas touch, olde school barleywine, pangaea, some worldwide stout blend thing and a box full of homebrews from one of the fest workers. quickly consumed and on the bus to the brewpub.

friday 8:00pm
at the brewpub with a BLT ordered, a 10% honey mead concoction called t'ej in my snifter, and some brown rum yet to be ordered. prescription for disaster right there.

friday 11:30pm
in bed.

saturday 6:00am
*barf*

saturday 8:30am
get up and bus back to the brewery for coffee and bagels. i opt for water. bocce scheduled to start in an hour.. and wouldn't ya know.. we're up first again. it just feels right to get a beer in me before the festivities, and the 5% abv on shelter pale is very appealing to me in my current state.

saturday 10:45am
officially, the first team totally eliminated from the festival. we celebrate.

saturday 12:30pm

the first beer is launched via punkin chunker.. a large trebuchet designed to throw pumpkins hundreds of feet, but works well with cheap 30 packs. we watch in amazement as shit blows up. fascinating.

saturday 5:00pm

after much ping-pong and bocce watching, motley brue takes 1st place and we take 3rd (for costumes) and are subsequently blessed with dogfish head dome lids. my teammates trip me and i beat their asses with my scepter, bruises ensue the following day. picture time for the winners.

saturday 8:30pm

back to the brewpub for the beer dinner.. saying goodbye. passionate speeches and good pizza, nice beer. exchanging BA names and talking trades. two of my team members are ridiculously intoxicated to the point of near illness. allie and i are in good shape, and we play pool and video games.. and make sam promise to have us back next year. get some d'extra for my buddies back home and head to bed with beautiful dogfish memories forever.

ticki tocki ticki tocki... hoy! hoy! hoy!

2005-09-03T13:05:00.000-04:00

okay, yet once again this has been a less than exciting beer week for me. i had the opportunity to head out to eli cannon's on thursday night for the hooker tasting where paul was unveiling this year's octoberfest, however when i drove home from work on thursday night i was completely burned out and in a daze... i am amazed i even made it home alive. jim had to go without me... and he had a great time... he would write about it but he claims to have forgotten his username and password. ;)

so long story short... i stayed home on the couch and went to bed at 10pm. jim went to eli's drank good beer, hung out with good friends, received a whole boat load of exciting beers from out west from friends who just returned from colorado and two bottles of hooker octoberfest. had my bottle last night, and damn is that tasty. can't wait until it's out on the shelves... it my be my "fall" beer of choice. if jim remembers how to use blogger, maybe you will get better updates, if not you just get me.

ANYHOW.... tonight we are going to my most favorite german restaurant ever. there are two in our area, hoffbrauhaus and east side restaurant. jim likes hoffbrauhouse best because they have a fabulous beer selection. i like it there because they have spinning salads and flaming desserts. but, i digress... my favorite is east side, where i can drink a beer out of a glass that is larger than my head and the wait staff sings the "ticki tocki" song every time one is ordered. really, this place is the best. i can't wait for jager schnitzel and spaetzel (i don't even think i spelled that right). plus, east side is close by in new britian where hoffbrauhaus is in springfield mass.

oooo... speaking of springfield. the big e starts on september 16. oh yeah baby. i can't wait. beer, giant turkey legs, fried food, butter sculpture, baby chicks, beer, cheese, farm animals, beer... what could be better? that's right nothing. here's a picture from last year for you... so yeah, big e... that's how i roll... or rather, that's how evs and amy roll below. :)

better late than never?

2005-08-25T21:34:00.000-04:00

it seems as though we are seriously overdue for our beer travels over the weekend. let me do a quick recap... as we are almost to this weekend.

saturday... willimantic brewing company again, but to meet up with some local beer advocates and celebrate the BA 9th anniversary. tasty food and tasty beer. of course i had the boc cream 'o wheat, but we also had the ipa(2) which was super tasty.

sunday... cambridge brew house for lunch in granby, ct. man... that place is really starting to shape up nice. our favorite bartender colorado was working, we finally got to fill in our mug club information... new mugs and hopefully a t shirt next time. to much dismay they were out of the kolsch (gotta start with a lighter beer on the first stop), but their ipa is so freaking tasty again. they have this blueberry beer on tap now, and a new oatmeal stout porter. i am definitely not down with the porter (stinky!) but the blueberry is interesting. over 160 lbs. of blueberries went into it. not sweet at all, i can't wait for the blueberries to "garnish" it. i think i am the only one who likes that....

next stop. opa opa steakhouse in southampton, ma. this place is just plain weird. it's totally kitsch and run by these greek guys. they brew some good beers here... and it looks like the steaks are unreal (gigantic portions), but we always go there after lunch.

third stop. the moan and dove in amherst, ma. my favorite. they had a really nice oud framboise on tap.... jim especially enjoyed the peche mortel (too stinky for me, i guess that makes it like a cheese??). cards, beer, good music. what could be better?

so that was "sunday, funday" although it wasn't that fun after all.... six feet under had it's series finale that night. i was expecting the entire show to spontaneously combust as a finale, but that didn't happen.

other news? we saw the new wes craven flick, red eye tonight. pretty good, but i was just happy to see a preview for the new tim burton movie, corpse bride on the "odyessy" screen. i can not wait. seriously, can not.

caught in traffic.

2005-08-18T07:00:00.000-04:00

okay, so i am not really caught in traffic... but during the week sometimes the beer travels are slow... for various reasons.

so i thought i would take this time to share my new favorite beer... brewed by russian river brewing company. i was first introduced to this at the ommegang fest in july, and i just couldn't stop standing in front of the tasting table to continue to ask for more. it's brewed in california by winemakers and really their craft beer is relatively new. they have many different beers, but i have only had two, supplication and temptation (oooh what great names... because now it makes me want them even more!). my favorite is temptation... it's aged in chardonay barrels and is so freaking tasty... it makes me want to drool.

and the best part is... we can't get these beers in connecticut. nope, not here. so i just have to savor and ration the bottles we have... unless someone is going out west and wants to bring us home a case... but really, don't offer because then we will have you bringing stuff home for us all the time.

but if you are in a state that sells the russian river, go try it. you will love it. i promise.

drinking :: nothing, its 7:10 AM and i need to go to work.

we've got the biggest balls of them all.

2005-08-14T14:59:00.000-04:00

okay, so dating an italian boyfriend has meant many things to me... first, everything has cheese and pasta and sauce and lots of carbohydrates. second, a sauce isn't a sauce unless it's been cooked all day. third, anchovies are your salty little friend (sorry, i can't get past the little hairy monsters). but the best thing is that dating an italian boyfriend means that he knows how to play bocce. why is this good? because on september 16th & 17th we will be travelling to deleware... to play in the 1st annual dogfish head craft brewery & beeradvocate.com intergalatic invitational bocce tournament and ml and christine will be joining us to complete our team of four.

dude how cool is that? it's way cool. and lucky for us jim is a bocce pro... it's in his blood. but now we have to decide on a team name. we've got a couple, but we need to get a good one... "the big lebocce", "hops & robbers", "hop heads"?? which one to choose? all i know is that we need to get our game on and get a good team, but the good prizes are for the ones that win the bocce tournament... so i think it might be time to set up a makeshift bocce court in the driveway.

on the way back from the tournament we are planning on hitting up iron hill brewery, and hopefully they will have their tripel on tap that christine has been drooling over since we went to belgium comes to cooperstown last month.

oh, and since this blog is new... and this is my first post, i guess if i have a beer in my hand i should say what it is.

drinking :: bell's two hearted ale.

8/13/2005 Willimantic Brewing Company

2005-08-14T14:33:00.000-04:00

Yesterday's travels weren't so grand.. 30 minutes out to Willimantic to visit one of our favorite lazy spots, Willimantic Brewing Co.

http://www.willibrew.com

Great place to go (if you can get there) to relax on an afternoon and play that computerized trivia game that hooks into the bar TV's. I scored a 14,380 out of 15,000 on one of the rounds, my highest score ever and one that I'm sure will grace the 'Recent High Scores' screen for some time.

While there, we sampled many beers. Not as many as usual, but still a fair amount.

Jim's favorite beer from yesterday:
http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/477/18945/
Allie's favorite beer from yesterday:
http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/477/1970/

On the way home, we stopped by John Harvard's in Manchester for a sample of their 10.7% Imperial IPA, "IPA Lot #1". Get it? Big beer for a big boy.. Inspired a stop at the greasy wing joint for some regrettable chow. Working on a plan for something big in the next few weeks.. Its all practice for now.