A Ticket A Tasket, My Delivery Basket

     Yesterday was day one of the delivery of tickets and posters to my fine friends in the beer biz. My day started off with my semi usual trip to the Phoenixville Farmers Market to buy some lovely fruit goodies such as blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and a couple of peaches. They also had a hummus stand from Lancaster area called Freshapeel Hummus. I got the chipotle lime flavor and a sampler taste later at home (half the container) confirmed to me that this was some damn tasty stuff. Just start making it in 5 gallon sized tubs and call it a day. Oh wait, they do. Maybe they need a trip to a beer fest....

     After the stuffing of the envelopes, I grabbed the posters and headed to the first stop of the day, Ye Olde Craft Ale House. It was there where I met my co pilot for the day, no not God, just my friend Dunny. We refrained from beer just this one time as we had some type of schedule to keep. Next stop was Capone's in East Norrition where we ran into several troublemakers from Victory, TNSC members and future baby daddy. One quick Blind Pig, which by the way really didn't taste all that piggly and we were on the road to Tj's. Jeff wasn't there because he was out with his high priced other girl, but the lovely T was there to help us out. We snuck in a couple of beers and a bite to eat and then hit the road to Union Jacks. One beer inside with some fine folks I haven't seen in awhile from the old Northside days. And one beer at outside bar to wake up from all the AC and lack of sleep I had from the night before. It was then back to the CAH for one last beer and a small bite before I drove my sorry tired ass home to relax and watch the the movie The Town and the Phillie's whoop on the Pirates.

Today I will make my way to the Drafting Room and Sly Fox Phoenixville for ticket day part two. It will not be as long as yesterday, that's for sure. The real world is calling me and I don't mean the tv series.

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.......

Do You Like To Drink From The Morning Wood?

Get your mind out of the gutters you perverts! This wasn't a trick question! Cause this Saturday at the very early hour of 9 am, David and Sarah's landlord is having another one of his evil fall events. How evil you ask? Here is the tap lineup.
STONE RED WINE BARREL AGED OLD GUARDIAN, ALLAGASH INTERLUDE, OMMEGANG ROUGE ,JOLLY PUMPKIN LA ROJA, JOLLY PUMPKIN BAM NOIRE, SAINT SOMEWHERE LECTIO DU CHENE, FOUNDERS BACKWOODS BASTARD 07 ,TERRAPIN SUBSTANCE ABUSE, TERRAPIN BIG HOPPY MONSTER, NEW HOLLAND DRAGONS MILK 07, LEFT HAND OAKED IMPERIAL STOUT, RUSSIAN RIVER CONSECRATION, FOUNDERS HAND OF DOOM, Le Trou Du Diable La Claymore Cerise, Le Trou Du Diable Brandy Barrel La Buteuse, A firkin of Harviestoun Ola Dubh 12.
If you haven't figured it out yet, the theme this year is barrel aged beers. Last year it was the Lost Abbey and Port Brewing. There is nothing like the smell of livers sizzling in the morning.

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.

Look Who's Back.....

Back again. Did ya miss me? Are you ready for a right smart bit of fun? Want to know what the hell I've been doing the last month? What has TNSC been up to? When will the t-shirts and glasses come out? Do I look like the answer man? What's with all these questions?



Well, wait no more children of the corn, here is little something to get your day started.

First up from the UJ's Hopfest is two fine ladies. One is sometimes bitter and the other likes to drinks really bitter beer. You pick em out.











Next up is the last known picture of Father Tom with a cigarette in his hand. He's a cold turkey kind of guy now. Should wooden Indians smoke?










Last and most certainly not least, is a group of...um,
drinkers is the most polite way of saying it, showing up at the same said event with some very special bottles cause all those hop bombs make them really thirsty.



Ah yes, catch up sure is fun. Stayed tuned for more catching up right here, cause where would you be without me?

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.

Now Who's Going To Milk The Dragon?

I have been quite remiss in my duty to report back on the "this is just plain wrong" New Holland event the other week at a packed Union Jacks. What do I mean by wrong? Dragons Milk out of firkin is what I mean. And anybody who had some of this silky goodness knows exactly what I'm talking about. The evil person behind this plan, every body's friend (and on this day it goes double) is Dr. Joel. He is New Hollands Mid Atlantic rep. and he is out kicking butt (and livers) and taking names. You will be seeing him a lot over PBW as he has a couple of great events lined up.

Speaking of events during PBW, which I believe is around 1 million or so now, is a couple of smaller events out our humble way. Check Union Jacks web page for details into a fine little shindig they shall be hosting and I shall be helping the hop heads over at Craft Ale House decide who really rules the hop roost. Trust me, no matter what you choose over those 10 days you can't go wrong. Hope to see you all somewhere.

Stuck Inside Union Jacks With The Lost Abbey Blues Again

A man needs to know his limitations. A man should know his limitations. I know when my libations ran out by 7:30 pm, my limitations waited for me at home where it quickly bopped me upside my head. Such is life when you spend 6 hours drinking some of the left coast's better breweries Port and The Lost Abbey last Saturday night at Union Jacks.







A right smart turnout on a beautiful fall day, I met up with some of the regions best drinkers for this battle. Trust me, we all lost.
The main reason TND didn't have a web site for so long.






All in all I give it two thumbs way up!

You Gotta Stay Positive

Now that I got another bad memory from life stored away in the deep dark recesses of what is left of my mind, let us concentrate on the happier things in life. Or as Monty Python would say, "Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life". This Saturday at Three'O Clock, Union Jacks on the mighty Manatawny (creek) presents the Port Brewing and Lost Abbey draught event. To say these beers are rare on tap around here would be an understatement, so this should be a right smart time. I just hope I don't trip over David and Sarah's sleeping bag like the last time.