Well, bye y'all, it's been swell.

I always like saying Hi Priest but now it is almost time to say Bye

- - - -
Whadda ya hear! Whadda ya say!

Take care dolf, and give 'em hell.

This has been the last public service announcement.

I'll miss the occasional conversations about beer. Actually it's been easier to talk about beer on this movie forum than about movies on the beer forum I'm on. But they remain pretty separate.

Be well yourself!


Here's to the fools who dream

And, I just got back from Vegas with a lot more to discuss, damn it. I found a place that had some new offerings for me, both German and Belgian. Mostly, I finally found 3 different Schlenkerla types I haven't had yet: Urbock, Lager and the double bock oak smoke. Can't wait to pop those, the only two I've had were the Marzen and wheat. I remember you loved the Schlenkerlas.

This has been the last public service announcement.

Yeah I love Schlenkerla; in fact when I was in Vermont a few months back, the store that used to be my local had the Festenbier which I'd never had. I got a big box full of stuff, could have sworn that was one of them, but got home and...nope. Haven't ever seen it around here alas. The Double Bock is relatively recent and I like it very nearly as much as the Urbock. Absolutely fabulous brewery all around, conceivably my favorite, though friends that have been to Bamberg claim that it isn't even one of the best in that city.

I've been mostly drinking local stuff lately, though I branch out when it comes to Belgians and Belgian-style stuff; the Wisconsin-Illinois area is not strong on breweries that do Belgian stuff well. Most German styles, and IPAs and a lot of other Anglo-American styles, I don't have to worry about; Toppling Goliath in Iowa (which only distributes AFAIK within that state and in Wisconsin and Minnesota) alone makes at least a dozen excellent IPAs and pale ales. Truly a golden era for beer.

Here's to the fools who dream

Great era for beer indeed. I have new breweries popping up in my area. One called Historic Brewery, and I met this dude from Belgium who works for them. We got to rapping, and his wife worked for Dogfish Head, then they moved to Flagstaff, AZ. She's a brewer at Historic now, and they are making some bomb stuff. I've been trying a lot of different Bell's too, from MI, and I love their beer. They've been around, but I'm just trying them.

This has been the last public service announcement.

It's crazy the amount of stuff happening here. Chicago has the largest number of breweries of any city in the world - around 75 - and the suburbs have an equal number, so 150 or so just there. I have 5 breweries or brewpubs within 15 miles of me and I live in nowheresville; an hour to the north, there seem to be new breweries opening up monthly in Madison. And distilleries too! I don't drink a lot of bourbon or rye and even less scotch, brandy, vodka etc, but it's cool that now there's quality stuff being made within an hour or two of me instead of just in Kentucky or France or Russia or wherever.


Here's to the fools who dream

I did pretty well in Vegas over the weekend and broke down and bought an expensive blended Scotch, Barons Select 40th Anniversary... it was worth every penny!

This has been the last public service announcement.