100!

It's hard to believe that a little over three years ago, I started this, um,novel, life changing experience, a deep thought provoking trip inside my empty mind or just a blog, for lack of a better words. Now of course I should be celebrating my 200th post, but what do you want for for nothing , a rubber biscuit? So now that some of the wonderful furor from the other week has died down for a moment, let's give the crazy ass people who actually read this, a little how de do with 4 mini posts in one.

                                                                CINCO DE HOLLAND
Yes, tonight is the night when UJ'S on the mighty Manatawny Creek brings us the one and only Dr.Joel, the worlds hottest blogger and Mr. New Holland beer ambassador. I can safely say that tonight's lineup is evil in every possible righteous way and I shall be making an appearance for a quick round or two with all the fine people there, hell, I hear even the future bride and groom will be there too to help celebrate my birthday week. Stop by and have a seat on the deck and enjoy the fall weather.

                                                        CRAFT ALE HOUSE AKA TNSC
If it is Thursday night and I am pretty sure that it is, it will be time for another meeting to discuss what crazy dumb ass drunks we really are and what we plan to about it. My plan is simple, drink 21st Amendment Bitter American and wash it down with a small boatload of Sly Fox Helen Keller Pils, a beer so good even Helen Keller herself could see that.

                                                             SLY DOG GANG BANG
I am quite sure I will get in trouble for that line, but come on, who hasn't said that out loud at one point over the last couple of weeks? Mr. and Mrs. TJ's will be hosting  the final assault on my liver this week as I celebrate my 28 anniversary of turning 25 on Mother's Day. No need for presents, but large sums of cash will be accepted as, um, gratuity, a good will gesture, good beer karma?

                                                             CURTIN'S CORNER
When the most esteemed of all the beer writers in the world asks you a wonderful question at the Goat Race on Sunday, I must answer him in a most thought provoking way I can think of. That means I have to write one more post about the Fork and Barrel, AJY fiasco and how I think the beer community could have done a better job asking questions about it without ruffling too many feathers.

That enough for you? Tune in next time for.......

Belgian Beer Paradise

   Several months ago, when a yellowy orb in the sky use to shine down upon us, we stopped in at TJ's after an afternoon of drinking evilness at TND. It was somewhat subdued there, but it was after all a holiday weekend. So, as we gently stumbled our way to the bar, what to our wandering eyes should appear, but a keg of Bier De Meil. Now that surely got the ladies attention and hell, it got ours too. Crazy chatter ensued about De Meil and the other great beers the Dupont company makes. When all of a sudden, Jeff got a look in his eye like he was sixteen and just got a new car and a box full of Trojans. He quickly ran to the back with his college educated phone and began making calls. He came back several minutes later and asked us what dates would work for TNSC for this Belgian beer fest. After some minor haggling, the date was set. And now it is here. Some of the best Belgian beers one can have. I guess the question is, what else do you want? Belgian cheese plate or a Croque Monsieur?

Good beer, good food, good place and good people. Can I get a amen brother?

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!

April Showers Bring May Goat Races

Rain, rain go away, I can't swim the breaststroke another day. Or any other stroke for that matter. Friday brought some biblical style rain down in my travels and by the time the Incubus crowd was a gathering that night at the Fox, I was still at home getting dried out. But then the rain took a break and instead of the Fox, we drove over the rising river and into the woods to Tom's place for a bite to eat and a couple of brews. It was a Blue Point Brewery promo with a cask of Hoptical Illusion. I am not a huge fun of any of their beers per say, but I always like their stuff when it is cask condition. So I wasn't disappointed with this. The Illusion is a beer I could drink several of on a handpump, and a couple out of a firkin. On tap, nada, zilch. Seems a lot of other people feel the same way. It wasn't much longer before the royal couple of Douglasville stopped in for their nightly drinking binge. After some very important shooting of the shit, which included the happy couple saying they probably wouldn't show up on Saturday afternoon at TJ's, we went our merry ways.



Saturday afternoon brought Mr. Steve and myself to the main line empire of TJ's. The bar area was surprising quiet for 3:30, except for Jack Curtin's bff, Woody Chandler. What can one say about the man who eventually sat at the bar and signed all the Ale Street News copies on his by-line. I think I just said it all. We started off with the Bear Republic Racer 5 on the Handpump which was quite nice. We weren't even half done when guess who shows up? Those crazy kids from Douglasville. You just can't keep us suburban hicks down for long. That led us to our next choice, an Allagash Interlude. Can we just come out and say it now? Allagash is one of the top ten breweries in the USA. Nuff said. By now the bar area was starting to fill up with some mighty fine folks, like West Chester's very own, the Hollands. We then enjoyed a small snack and I had a Hoppin Frog Mean Manalishi, which was actually pretty mean. It tasted like it had around 12% instead of the 8% it had.

So, Mr. Steve and I paid our bill and said our goodbyes and jumped into the Rubeomobile and headed back to the cozy confines of suburbia to get ready for our Portland/Seattle planning meeting. Another fine day in the books if I have to say so myself.

And It's One, Two, Three Kegs You're Out

At the old bar game. There was a lot of spring in every bodies step this last Saturday as TJ'S hosted yet another in the series of evil beer events out on the main line. The beers? Well, to get a spring fever pitch like that, it only can be be one beer company, Russian River. The beers on tap were the extra long wait of Pliny The Younger and the latest of Vinnie's Belgian's, Consecration. Oh, and just for shit and giggles, a keg of Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout. Just about all the local beer celeb's were there for this fine day and Mr. Jeff did not disappoint, unless of course you got there at 4:25 or later. I strolled in right around 4 and in one of the few times it helps being tall, Jeff spotted me right away and grabbed me a right smart glass of the Hi C. It sure do taste different then when I was a kid. It must be from soaking it in a wine barrel. I decided to save the Younger for a another day and go right to KBS. Never had on tap and I can say with all my heart that was some goooood stuff. When the bourbon blends so nicely into a beer like that, it is just plain scary to drink it at times, cause it goes down oh so easy. Kinda like Villanova's win over UCLA earlier in the day.

It was extremely kind gesture, when the lovely and talented Holland clan was nice enough to give us crazy kids a seat at the bar, so we could grab a bite to eat. I was already working on my fourth beer of the day and was starting to feel quite chipper. A couple at Rock Bottom while watching the ball game started me off and these two beer bombs were more than willing to help the cause. The food there is always good and today did nothing to change that fact. So we finished up our grub and beer and said goodbye and rolled on into the sunset. Till April 4 that is. Peanuts and crackerjack indeed.