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.

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!

Twas The Days Around My Birthday

Birthdays sure are fun till some smart ass reminds you of how old you are, as if I didn't know that first hand already. If I had half a mind...I guess I would have double what I got now. Anywho the Thursday the 7th was spent at our lovely little local place, The Craft Ale House. This was strictly a practice session for the big day on Friday. I think I saw a few folks pull a hamy from practicing too hard.

Friday brought us all to those old stomping ground of Zieglerville, The Northside. The wonderful Ms. Sara with a h was working her voodoo, I mean magic with a right smart busy bar and dining room. The outside bar was suppose to be open by now, but it was delayed another week, cause she said so. Things got ugly later on as they usually do, as more bottles that even the night before appeared upon the bar. As the Sarge said in Stripes, "I'm getting too old for this shit".

Saturday was a recovery day and also a partial work day. Sunday brought the four of us some free Phillies tickets in the Bob Uecker sections of CBP. The winds that Mothers Day were clocked at 100 miles per hour and was coming out of the northwestern part of the North Pole. We of course were sitting in the shade hoping we wouldn't get killed by a flying straw or french fry. To say we were getting cold would be a slight misunderstanding of the color blue. Lucky for us, we saw that some of our in-laws had seats in the glorious sun at the same game. So we marched down there and threw them out on their keisters and slowly thawed out.

Monday night the 11th brought the famed Monday Night Tasting group to the CAH. (As seen in this picture above.) Criminally amounts of beer were brought and tasted along with some homemade hooch from a former Allagash brewer that Mr. Bob got from a recent trip to Maine. I, using what brains cells I had left, ran to my car after we were done the tasting. I knew what evil could lurk if I stayed any longer.

Another year down and 49 more to go. Thanks folks for making this a pretty good one.

Are You Down With SBP?

Just about two years ago, I contacted a young journalist who was pushing a radical idea. Session beer was his name and session drinking was his game. So I bit hard and talked the fine folks at Ortino's into a couple of events. The food at the two dinners was great as always, but the attendance wasn't that great. Then came the big cheese, my baby, The Session Summer Of Love. Lots of buzz from near and far. The brewers were pumped to prove that they could make a session beer worthy of a beer geeks passion. A right smart crowd turned up on a Friday for firkin night and a not too shabby crowd was there for a hot Saturday afternoon on Memorial Day weekend. But alas, nobody wanted to continue what I saw, as well as others saw, as a right smart event. Now maybe it will all come down to 2009 as the year of Session Fest. The question is, will I raise that banner somewhere else before Kennett? Or will Kennett kick off a fine fall season of session beers? Only the beer gods know for sure.