TNSC Stretched Thin

Stop the madness! I am only one man, okay, maybe a man and a quarter, or maybe just a quarter. Whatever you may think, it has been crazy around here on Thursday nights. With all the locals lining up events on that night, I'm going to have to start asking for gas money from each stop soon. Last week looked liked I was on my way for another 3peat until my favorite road stepped in to slow down my dreams.

422 should just be blown up and replace with a high speed rail. But I guess I will leave one lane of it for beer trucks. It has become the cluster fuck of roads. Thursday afternoon was another example of how we are all screwed if we ever have any KIND of emergency and have to vacate the area in, oh, say a week or two. After sitting in another famous traffic jam, I finally gave up the ghost of ever getting to UJ's and seeing Nicky the J from Troegs do his thing. So I got off the road to hell and on to the back roads, which also moved about as fast as the speed of light from a broken bulb. I finally made it over to The Northside an hour and 45 minutes later from the out skirts of West Chester. To say I needed a beer or four would be a crime against human decency. Mr. Stockertown, (other folks call him Bernie) was there for a Bear Republic night and promised me a dinner and a beer. Who I am to refuse? Especially when Racer 5 is on the hand pump. I lub, lub, lub this beer on the hand pump. I get it every time I see it. I also had a couple other of the BR offerings including my new fav Nor-Cal, but the one that stood out was the latest, Black Mamba. This is one interesting beer. I only got the chance to gaze over the info sheet, but I am wondering if it is their experimental beer from the website. I would love to tel you all about it, but I currently ain't drinking it and I got CRS.

So after the fun was over there it was back to my home away from home, Ye Olde Craft Ale House where we soon engaged in some Devil Dancing and garlic popcorn. I can't make that kind of stuff up. So I thought I had a decent night, but look at this nonsense coming this week. I know I can't make many after shelling out $325 on my car. (smiley face!) But maybe you can.

7/15 Craft Ale House-- Founders Breakfast and Canadian Breakfast Stout on tap starting at 11 am.
7/15 Drafting Room--Sly Fox Hop Project with a firkin of the beer me and Steve made famous.
7/16 Union Jacks--Left Hand Brewing night.
7/16 Northside--Xmas in July with 3 years of Mad Elf and your host Nicky the J.
7/18 TJ'S--Michigan Breweries Throw down.

Does the word yikes mean anything?

Three Out Of Three Ain't Bad

Thursday the 25, I primed myself for a trip to all my locals for a drop or two of beer and some of that socializing that goes on in between those pesky trips to the bar. Stop one led me to the mighty Manatawny river and Union Jacks for a Green Flash promo. The wonderful and lovely host Tom, was just getting ready to tap a firkin of Imperial IPA as I walked into door. Sometimes you get lucky and sometimes lucky gets you. Well, lucky got me a big ass glass of Imperial IPA from Mr. Firkin. It took a lot of work to hold that glass by the look on my face. Needless to say I shared that or I still might be there.


After sharing my new found gains with a few folks, who should walk in but the king and queen of Douglasville, Dave and Sarah. We had a brew and talked about the little hubbub that brewed up over her review of the new Philly Beer Scene magazine. I think I see a future post or two about this subject down the road. Unfortunately time was a wasting, so I said my goodbyes and hopped in the truck and headed on over to The Northside.

Those nice folks were having a Stoudts promo featuring some 2004 big bottles of Abbey Triple and a few more on draft of Stoudts regular lineup. I had time for a quick bite and a wheat and a pils. The bottles didn't make their appearance by the time I was ready to go, so off I went to the CAH.

The rest of the famed TNSC club was there already, most of them were in a big bottle mode. I had a few sips of this and dat, and another quick bite, and using my new found powers, trucked on home. Operation Local was a success. This time.

15 Or 5?

I will let you fine folks decide what is more impressive, the Drafting Room 15th anniversary or their 5 year fling with Troegs making them some pretty tasty beer. Last Wednesday night I would call it a tie. The new batch of beer made with the Apollo hop, was flowing at 6 pm sharp and Mr. Firkin was pouring a few minutes later. The result is one damn tasty beverage. It has just a little bit of earthiness to it which reminded me a tad bit of Sierra's Southern Hemisphere. But this little hop (bomb)will stand on it's own with no problemo.


We were quite fortunate to end up having dinner with the Honorary Mayor of West Chester and his wife and of course, we ran into the Victory dance team, headed up by Wandering Joe and Mr. Ruch. By then everybody was starting to show up, including Mrs. Sierra Nevada or you can call her Doc, Mr.Larry and his wife Whitney and the main man behind it all J.T. Or Mr. Troegs to you.


Now I had the chance for a little conversation after dinner with the head honcho over something I saw back at their 10 anniversary party at the brewery. That is of course, the brett project. Now, unless he is really pulling my leg, the first release of this will be their former scratch number 3, which was a Belgian style triple. It will be out sometime next month in that good old cork and cage. It will only be sold at the brewery and if I can remember this right, only 200 cases will be made. Other releases will follow including the Troegenator all bretted up for your drinking pleasure. Of course if he was pulling my leg, what the hell do I care? Send him the angry e-mails.

What Do You Get?

If two beer bloggers named Brian walked into a bar, what do they get? A Woody! Hey, I'll be here all week at the Kepler Mountain Resort and Casino.

It was just another in a long line of fine events at TJ'S on the 13th, as it was billed as a beer battle between Ballast Point and Bear Republic. Mr. Stockertown Beverage himself, Bernie was there to help sway the votes toward the BR side of things.( Vote for me and you drink for free) Of course Mr. Chandler was there signing copies of his latest work.

But getting there proved to be quite a challenge as the heavens and hell dropped a ark like amount of rain on the way down. I think the covered wagons may have made it to California quicker than our ride on parts of 422. But once inside, the fine TJ'S staff was ready for bear, I mean ballast, I mean, what the hell do I mean? There were the familiar folks you see at most events and there was an extra good reason for that as Allagash Confluence was also on tap to take away some of the hop goodness of the two contestants. Dang, that was sum good stuff.

So, what beers did I think were worthy? Racer 5 on the hanpump has moved right smartly in my top ten or so of cask beer. It is that good. Racer 10 is a little too much on the boozy side. Ballast Points Big Eye and Sculpin weren't hurting my feelings too much. But Allagash stole my heart and my taste buds and a another sliver of my liver. I was surprised just how good that was on tap. Bottle was pretty damn good too.

We called it an early night (hello early night) and grabbed a couple of zebras and got on the ark and sailed on home. Till the next beer battle...........

And Now Back To Our Program

Already in progress. Ah yes, let us have a quick update
about the rest of my doings in late May. When a man gets the opportunity
to see a living legend in action, the one, the only, Patrick Mullin, well he grabs the bull by the horns (not any lower though) and heads off to TJ'S for the Sierra Nevada
event. The winner of the event wasn't so much the beer as it was the glasses. These right smart looking glasses were the cat's meow and maybe even the dog's bark. Holding a generous 8 ounces of whatever your drinking pleasure may be, they were the most talked about thing all night. But when Mr. Mullin and the former local head of the Sierra Local, Mr. Tommy Gannon, looking slim, tan and well rested, cornered me for an opinion about the most talked about beer of the spring, the Brown Saison, well, I reckon I had to tell them the bad news.


I, like 8.5 people out of ten, didn't really care for it. I like the idea, didn't like the execution of it. It reminding me more of a hellerbock or something along those lines. It's not bad enough not to try one, but I sure don't want another. But one beer I had no problem singing the praises for was the Kellerweisse. This was some old school magic at work. Open fermentation gives that extra oomph, flavor and drinkabilty. Why even the Mayor and his wife from West Chester could agree on that.

Another beer that has been given the transformation was Dock Street's Dunkel Berliner Weisse. So when those crazy kids from West Philly showed up on the Northside patio bar, I braved the freezing temps and the howling wind and duh, the rain, to try some out. The verdict, it is as advertised. Which means it is a darker version of the standard, but not heavy in any way. A good fall or spring beer for those sourheads out there.

And so another birthday month comes to a close. It is time to move on. It's freaking June for God's sake!