DerekRx

Happy Independence Day, USA! Here's a few things from the past week. I haven't had my camera with me lately. Earlier in the week we went to The Drafting Room again where I had their 14th Anniversary IPA from Troegs (yummy and not a hop explosion) a Brooklyn Lager (it came free with my meal), and finally got to try the Sierra Nevada Southern Hemisphere Harvest Fresh Hop Ale (different but great), while today we headed to Union Jack's to try the Avery 15 (fairly good, but not a RR Wild Ale) and Southern Tier Cherry Saison (very barnyard and lacking cherry, typical for Southern Tier). lots of raisin flavors, didn't smell or taste like I expected Finally, a gift from Matt, Northwind RIS from Two Brothers turns out it was the same beer as the Drafting Room's 14th Anniversary IPA, so yay! I was anxious to try this one, Troeg's Scratch #12, an IPA they kicked the Blackeye PA the night before, so instead I just went with the American Pale Ale. Not the best, but not bad by any means first up, the Organic Kolsch. Light, refreshing, flavorful, and wholesome! back at the local place, Stoudts, which we'll become very familiar with over the next year

As much as the Boardwalk needs more slides, a wave pool, and lazy river, I still can't help but wonder why the heck Hershey just didn't build the Boardwalk as a separate gate instead. How much more expansion room can they possibly have for it in its current location. I'd hate to see any of the coasters or Midway America rides going bye bye because the Hershey bigwigs couldn't figure out that a waterpark in Central PA would be a good idea.

If you want to gradually introduce him into the world of roller coasters, one thing that seems to freak people out the most is the lifts and 1st drops. Find a roller coaster that is launched and doesn't have a big drop and go from there. Something like Pony Express or Montezooma at Knotts or even Mummy at USH or California Screamin' at DCA may be a good place to start. If he likes them, then move onto the other more intense rides like Xcelerator, and then try Silver Bullet. Just don't cut his enthusiasm short by slapping him on Ghostrider in an axle seat or riding the Boomerang or anything like that! A few short years ago a friend of mine had never been on a roller coaster before in his life as he was terrified of them. However, after seeing countless old ladies and young kids walking off of Rock N Roller Coaster with smiles on their faces, he decided he needed to bite the bullet and ride. Without a lift hill to see how high up he was and without a first drop to produce those stomach butterflies, he was fine. Now he's been on almost 600 coasters.

Chalk up another vote for Garmin and the Nuvi series. I have the 660, and with its small size, wide screen, and built in bluetooth, it's pretty much the best thing I purchased for myself so far this year. Though it does have some minor flaws like not being able to decipher the difference between expressways and highways with lights and such as far as the time difference, it hasn't gotten me lost yet, and in the event that I make a wrong turn, it's quick to recalculate. Gotta love the preloaded maps and addresses, as well as the various voices it has loaded. I nabbed mine on Amazon for a pretty good price, and got the accompanying dashboard sandstand thingy so I don't have to worry about suction cups. My Mena is awesome!

^Wow, that shot came out awesome. I believe that's the Racer 5 in the glass. Looks refreshing! This week's brews... It's supposed to be a stout, but the roasted flavors are overshadowed by sour lactose throughout. I thought it went bad, but there are plenty of reviews from earlier in the year stating the same thing. Hopefully this weekend has me enjoying much better brews! and we end this update with one of the worst beers I've ever had, Arbor Brewing's Espresso Love and you can really taste the lemons! pretty much tasted like it sounds, lemonade with a biscuity finish. Light, refreshing, and a summer sessionable if you like lemons as it warms up again, time for some Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy, a wheat beer mixed with lemonade Chocolate, molasses, bread, caramel, coffee, and even some hops makes for a satisfying brew with a much lower alcohol at 5.1%, and canned to boot! I followed that up with something equally as awesome, just a little bit lighter, Surly's Bender Amazing stuff jam packed with citrus, pine, spicy, and earth hops AND great malty balance of caramel and biscuit, but at 13.6% ABV, it's also packing some serious alcohol, even more dangerous when you can hardly notice it. earlier in the week I started off with the Double Crooked Tree IPA from Dark Horse

I've been slacking again, not only from posting, but also from taking pictures. Here's some of last week's stuff. too busy enjoying the pool to take pictures of our other brews, but we enjoyed some Terrapin Rye Pale Ale, Racer 5 IPA, and Hop Devil as well. Then after SFGAd we stopped at Rock Bottom today where I enjoyed the Liquid Sun Hefe Weizen along with an amazing bourbon BBQ Salmon sandwich. and since Bret likes pale ales and IPAs, I brought a few he cannot obtain, like Terrapin's Hop Shortage afterwards it was off to Bret and Jill's to check out their new deck and enjoy the pool and BBQ on Saturday we headed to Sesame Place for a few hours so I could be more prepared to drink once again I wasn't very impressed. Lots of rum raisin flavors with just a tad of dark chocolate and roasted malt, and hardly any coffee. I like other RISs much better on Friday I decided to check out the Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout again, a highly ranked beer I had a couple of years ago and didn't really care for Now that's an awesome IPA that's a lot different than the West Coast style I sure am glad these come in cans and are easy to transport in checked baggage. It's time to get Furious with some Surly

Nitro, backseat in the rain just before they shut it down due to the approaching thunderstorm. Definitely memorable, but the 6 rides on El Toro with no waiting were even better!

What would people expect from bloggers named Angry Asian Man? If SF changed it around so that the guy was speaking like an English professor, he'd still find a way to make it racist. someone had to do it

Been drinking a lot of the same stuff while it's fresh since it's almost Summertime, and the other day we met up with Heath and Kim at Iron Hill to enjoy some awesome Kryptonite Double IPA but didn't take pictures, but tonight I decided I needed to share the latest, something I picked up out in Minn. awesome stuff. loads of coffee, chocolate, and bourbon flavors mixed with roasted oat, vanilla, and licorice. No idea what the alcohol on this is, but I'm sure it's pretty high, but worth it! stick devil sure is cute The latest, Wisconsin's own Tyranena Brewing's Devil Over a Barrel- a Bourbon barrel aged Imperial Oatmeal Porter. Just released this year and at #25 on the best brews of the world list, and still rising!

2010 now? I thought this was originally proposed last year to open next year. Oh well, now that Ravine Flyer II is finally opened, something needs to take its place.

Voodoo at Dorney Park Hooray for S:UE coming back to life, and closer to home! I liked the sign with the candles and alter motif, and I love the ride, especially when there is no line!

Not much exciting stuff happening this week, too hot around here to enjoy much of anything, except maybe for these: tastes like apricot, and wheat. No surprises here. Light and refreshing, easy to drink. another hot day, another good time for an Apricot Wheat, this time from Ithaca Really refreshing and packing in the apricot flavors, but other flavors as well, like honey, grass, and lemon Middle Ages's Apricot Ale was something I picked up over Memorial Day lots of nice tart green apple flavors in this one! Up first, Beatification by Russian River, another one of their wonderful wild ales

On Sunday we ventured to Valleyfair (sometimes without an !), another park I hadn't been to but was really in no hurry to get to...at least up until last year with the addition of Renegade. Being a Cedar Fair park, I was expecting lots of concrete, trash cans, blandness, lack of crowds, and a bunch of coasters that were just average at best. Well, almost everything was as I expected, except there was less concrete (just found in the newer sections of the park) and it wasn't as bland, there was actually some charm and character to parts of the park, and some of the employees were pretty friendly, especially the girl in Guest Services who knew how to get Platinum Passholders in. With the lack of people, we racked up the coaster credits within 2 hours, but we also took plenty of rides on Renegade and enjoyed some of the other rides in the park. While it's not the greatest park in the world, it isn't terrible and isn't a park I'd dread to get back to. I think I could have a good time at Valleyfair even without getting credits, as long as the crowds aren't bad. Farewell turnaround of wandering randomness! Adios, Valleyfair, thanks for the credits. Now it's time to get our beer on! (but you can check the Beer Thread for that update, already done). Thanks, Matt for sharing in the fun! goodbye Steel Venom, I'll say hi to your older younger brother Voodoo soon! This ferris wheel looked too scary for even me to want to ride, even if it was only like 50 feet off the ground. Power Tower was fun, even though Matt was too afraid to ride more scenery they forgot to take out and replace with another 12 trash cans as we were heading out we caught a roving band playing Madonna's new song random vertical loopage But it's definitely a great coaster with good pacing, nice airtime pops, out of control feelings, and still smooth and rerideable. I think the only thing missing from Renegade is a killer finale airtime moment, or maybe a jo-jo roll, or possibly onboard audio that plays The Styx. Now that'd rule! it was warming up a bit, and some peoples were enjoying the emptiness in the waterpark. Fearing Big Mike was around though, all the women had t-shirts on over top of their bikinis Heading back to Renegade they were adding the 2nd train, so we checked out the rapid instead. Seeing these waterfalls, and knowing my luck since the log flume, I decided against a ride no Mild Thing credit for me, unless I chop off my legs at the knee. Hey, that rhymed! The park had a couple of nice kiddie areas not themed to cartoon shows from 30 years ago, but with nice older rides from that era With no line, we decided to ride the Xtreme Swing. Fun and thrilling, but the cycle could be a bit longer bad log flume! I hope they take you out and replace you with a Maverick!! but after the hidden waterfall on the exit of the tunnel that soaked me, I had a different opinion I've been a sucker for log flumes lately, and this one looked nice how's it going, Cameron. THE MOST RANDOM TURNAROUND EVER! Really wacky, but semi-thrilling and fun. Still, glad Dorney's neighbors complained and delayed the delivery of the hyper so Valleyfair could get this and we could have Steel Force and then prepare ourselves for the entry into... but first, we must go down at a really (not so) steep angle up the lift, I can't wait to make our return through the vinyl-sided tunnel shed of doom! I vaguely remember something bad about this back car though and we decided to sit in the last car, my favorite spot on Steel Force one more credit, and it's the tallest one in the park and unknownst to me, this one uses the holding brake too! Joygasm! Yay for Steel Venom, just one big old fun coaster. I just love Impulses, as every seat offers a different experience People were getting soaked on the shoot the chutes, not an acceptable amount of wetness to me what an unusual station for Corkscrew, not sure what they're going for here. Corkscrew, looking so much like it wants to be like its brother at CP, but it's not quite there are you sure we're at a CF park!? more scenery and peacefulness here's some of that charm I noticed in the park as for High Roller itself, I could see where it had the potential for airtime (well, not really "see" as much as "hear") Not exactly sure what's up with these trains, but it was nice to see no seat dividers on a CF woodie High Roller was nearby, I totally forgot it was an IAD coaster The Arrow mice are weird, with all the typical wild mouse characteristics along with banking and trick track. Odd, but amusing! Mad Mouse had walk-on conditions still, time to get that credit I think they need more than 4 trims on the first drop Being an Arrow with wood structure in a Cedar Fair park, I figured this would be more like Gemini. I was stupid to think that after a few rides on Renegade I remembered I needed more credits, so while we were in the back of the park, time for Excalibur The flyby wasn't as noticeable as Thunderheads, but it also wasn't nearly as loud Renegade was a lot better than I was told by some friends. While it's still no OzCat to me, it's one of my favorites from GCI. I liked the semi-out-n-back beginning, and the airtime pops and turns were good with the weather sort of iffy, the park was dead in the late morning, so they only ran 1 train at first, but there was never more than a 1 train wait for any row. first stop, ALLLLLLLL the way in the back of the park, Renegade, which just was finishing up testing as we got back there. Got the front seat on ride 1 but the disco ball fountain is unique This entrance looks very Cedar Fair inspired Leave Minneapolis, head southwest, and when you think there's nothing around, Valleyfair should show up in front of you

Last year seemed to be as good a time as any for me to finally venture into Minnesota to rack up some credits with the addition of Renegade, but with high airfare prices and Nick Universe's announcement of 2 more coasters coming in 2008, I decided I may as well wait. Matt was only too happy to make the drive out from Chicago to meet up with me, especially after I told him of all the beer places I hoped to hit. After picking me up at the airport, it was off to the Mall of America. by the end of the night, Matt was just a bump on a log saving his energy to release a fury of excitement at Valleyfair the next day I blame my crappy score on all the distractions coming from the park, totally not on my Happy Gilmore style of golfing and it was nice to get more shots of the park from the course was pretty boring, but we still stink at mini-golf hello friends! above Nick Universe and off to the side is some indoor mini-golf, gotta try that! this one goes out to you, Big Mike the park is a LOT bigger than I figured, with lots of other rides plopped down, but it also still has a nice openness about it, and you can totally forget that you're indoors and at a mall speaking of rare rides that are still running, hello Mighty Axe with a new name how's your tumbler, Knott's? and though it has a new name, it's good to see this thing still runs at least Ghost Blasters is still the same, and running very well, with all the targets and props working! shame they're taking them out and redoing the whole ride to some barnyard characters I never heard of I really liked the flume, especially the giant Babe and Paul Bunyan animatronics, and the storyline was pretty cool. the park has a flume complete with a moose with SpongeBob on his back to some this thing is more intense than it seems, like to the emo people who rode with me and screamed the whole time. spinning seems to be the in thing in Minn Cedar Fair's last coaster addition before leaving was a good one and really fits the place nicely, even with the bright orange track, but at least they weren't the ones to give it the pretty unoriginal name of Fairly Odd Coaster. here's a shot for all you control console geeks out there it's cool how close to the ceiling this is the halfpipes are definitely more intense and fun than diskos, and they count as credits to boot! Avatar Airbender (mmmm...Bender) was next and was also a lot of fun with some airtime and spinning goodness next on the agenda was the Pepsi Orange Streak. A fun family coaster with a random darkride section, and probably the best thing with Pepsi affiliation in the US SpongeBob's house doubles as a bouncy house for the youngins but in any case, the ride is really fun and pretty thrilling I think the trains are sort of themed to evil tikis or something it works better here than on Drachen Fire, but these restraints were a little ouchy too like a severe cutback after the midcourse, it's right back to the action The zero G rolls on the Gerstlauers sure are spread out and leaves you saying "omg! wtf is that!?" Vertical loops are the norm these days too, though they're on their way out it seems, replaced by Norwegians and such. It seems these drops are becoming more and more present especially ones with big ole loops I know little about SpongeBob, but I know I likes me Eurofighters The first stop, the new coaster on the block, SpongeBob SquarePants Rock Bottom Plunge More construction, or deconstruction of the old theme. Something tells me this won't be used for a hypercoaster or a strata, though an Aquatrax isn't out of the question! I was shocked how the park is just right there in the center of the mall, all opened to the world and all Time to check out the newly rethemed Park at Mall of America, now called Nickelodeon Universe, with lots of characters we old Nick people don't know much about. Where's Ren and Stimpy!?

Our final day in Minneapolis, just some more time to enjoy the city's brewpubs...after a visit to Valleyfair, of course! and getting back to the hotel, Scoopie knows how to party, with some Furious and Culver's Banana's Foster ice cream. Conclusion: Minneapolis is ok in my book, can't wait to come back We learned the Bright Spot was taken off tap and replaced with a Dortmunder, which Matt got to accompany his burger to end our time, I went with the Masala Mama on cask again to accompany my gyro, a meal doesn't get much better than this Matt was annoyed at missing out on some Blueberry tasting beer, guess he'll just have to come back next month their upcoming seasonals for July Matt either does a Bubba Face or his Picasso impression while enjoying the West Bank on Nitro, a British pale ale that tasted a lot of grapenuts next for me, some Milk Porter, pretty good and creamy with some nice roasty notes again, there comes a time when we're the only ones at the bar, as everyone is too happy to have nice weather for a change and goes outside to eat and drink look at that lacing! first up, some regular Masala Mama, good as they come the taplist hasn't changed much in the last 24 hours next, we found ourselves back at Town Hall for some more excellent beers and dinner say hello to the Metrodome as we pass by, the Twins were getting their butts kicked in Chicago at the time our lite snack was some huge calamari, but it didn't last long Matt enthusiastically chose the El Jefe Hefeweizen, another tasty brew beerwise, I went with the Itasca Extra Pale Ale on cask, pretty good stuff a look at the taplist Lots of space in this one, but the bar isn't nearly as big as KOPs We found ourselves completely done with Valleyfair before 2pm, so may as well have a lite snack and beer at Rock Bottom, where Surly's brewer got his start.

Valleyfair's Renegade, backseat. Not a bad ride at all!

Today it was off to get some more Minnesota brews in the Twin Cities. mmmmm, butter burger, cheese curds, and a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup malt, perfect dinner of death! final stop, dinner at Culver's! only downside to this place is that almost all the beer was constantly refrigerated nope, just to Blue Max, another impressive liquor store uh, I hope we're not going to camp Nice selection in here next stop, to buy some stuff for drinking at home in the future to end our visit, I went with the 1800 English IPA, a newly released seasonal, and pretty good, but no Masala and Matt loved his gyro went great with my Mango Chicken sandwich The Black H2O Oatmeal stout was fairly good Matt enjoyed both the Masala Mama and the Milk Porter and I don't think anything could be better than Masala Mama on cask, one of the top beers in the world but we're here mainly for the Town Hall brews a nice selection of guest beers too mostly the usual stuff on tap, with a few seasonals pretty nice looking place with a good sized bar, tables, and a beautiful ceiling time for more beer (and food), off to Town Hall Brewing, one of the top places to have a beer in the US I believe these tables are for Friday tours, which fill up pretty quickly but we did manage to grab some gear only opened for growlers and merch purchases, so we didn't stay too long hello Surly! back across Minneapolis to our next destination and we both ended our time at Summit with some Oatmeal Stout on nitro Matt went with the Great Northern Porter, roasty with good chocolate and coffee flavors next up, the HefeWeizen, another solid brew time for a break in the merch shop Matt went with the Scandia, a summer Belgian White ale as for the samples, I started with the India Pale Ale, pretty solid the bottling line looked pretty cool pretty large facility, much bigger than we expected and our volunteer, Phil, is ready to pour and they give you tokens for free samples afterwards, which makes Matt happy pretty organized tour that a first timer would appreciate First stop, Summit Brewing in St. Paul for a tour

I may be local to Hersheypark, but visit Busch Gardens just as often. Based on the fact that it is your grandmother going with you, I would probably have to vote depending on your grandmother's age and style of amusement. If she likes at least some rides I'd go with Hershey. Busch Gardens is more lots of pretty flowers, long walks, hills, a few coasters, and a bunch of shows. Hershey has more coasters for you, more coasters for the whole family, a couple of shows (like the aqua theater), long walks, pretty flowers, hills, a bigger variety of flat rides, a waterpark inside the park, and a free chocolate ride. Pretty much, either option would be a good one for you, and both have a great assortment of coasters.

SpongeBob Squarepant's Rock Bottom Plunge

You remember that trip I spoke of, well here's today's segment of that...at least the beers of it. and I'll agree with him. Wow is the Bitter Brewer packing in the dry hopped pine flavors or what! Matt can't think of a better way to end the evening than with some Bitter Brewer Still got 2 other Surly taps to dive into while enjoying some excellent food, so let's get Furious! A great IPA with lots of earthy hops and a good maltiness as well Matt agrees, this stuff is awesome, and easy to drink. It should remind him a little of Oberon, but he hasn't had that in a while seeing how it was just put on tap that day, may as well start off as fresh as possible with some CynicAle, a Farmhouse style Saison It's owned by the brewer of Surly and his wife, what's what. Meaning this place is guaranteed to have Surly stuff on tap, and nothing else! Home of Cafe Twenty Eight. What's so special about this place? After a fun couple of hours at the Mall of America, we're off to the Linden Hills area of Minneapolis Arriving in Minneapolis I'm greeted by another Rock Bottom right by my gate. Too bad I don't have time right now for beer, I need to get to MOA for some coaster credits with Matt And since I inquired about it, the bartender hooked me up with a sample of the Czar's Nightmare, an Imperial Stout on Nitro. I'll definitely be heading back for a pint of this soon! and that's what I started with. Lots of grapefruit flavors in this year's batch Good stuff on tap, including the newly released American Dream IPA Time before the flight, may as well have lunch at Rock Bottom

Just a couple brews to enjoy this week before heading out on a trip. a very sessionable IPA with not a blowout of hops, also packs a nice maltiness to mix it up a little between all the various hoppy flavors it contains continuing our way out West, next up is New Holland's Mad Hatter IPA from Michigan Another great RIS with lots of chocolate and coffee flavors, with a touch of citrus and good oatiness to boot First up, BORIS the Crusher a Bodacious Oatmeal Russian Imperial Stout from Hoppin' Frog out in Akron, Ohio

I picked up the new album after work tonight, and although I am only about 1/2 way through it, I think it lives up to my expectations of what Disturbed should put out, much more so than Linkin Park's latest attempt at being Linkin Park. Sounds good, somewhat dark, more between The Sickness and Awaken than Ten Thousand Fists, and definitely powerful. Of course, I also think MLB is the most boring sport on the planet and Hydra is the baseball of the coaster world, so your mileage may vary.

With its location practically next to the new coaster, I would expect Laser's ridership to increase this year, but in previous years it was in a fairly dead area of the park, surrounded by kiddie rides. I wonder if Dorney has expansion plans in the works that call for Laser's removal, which would suck, because it's still the most intense ride in the park, and a ride I make sure I ride on each and every visit, just because I've been assuming CF would take it out now for the past 5 years, as it's actually fun and intense, unlike practically every other coaster in their repertoire. I know of many a park that could use another good coaster than even the smaller folk could enjoy, one of them being just a short distance away from Dorney, making that 26 trailers full go up real quick....at least quicker than their current project. Anyone know Dick's private number?

Saturday's wedding's best beer offering was Spaten Premium Lager, which was good, but it was a little too hot out to enjoy mass quantities of it, so the Kutztown Birch Beer was more in line. As for Sunday, we headed to Hersheypark and met up with some old chaps to the beer thread who were passing through the area. Decided what a better follow up than a visit to one of the nearby microbreweries afterwards for dinner. Pretty darn good stuff, lots of nice grapefruit and pine flavors with a nice solid biscuit and caramel backbone. Tonight I went with a homebrew that was thrown in as a bonus in a trade I did. The Baked IPA from Double Head Home Brewing in Colorado When last I left the Buzzards, they were enjoying the Abbey Bar upstairs. Hope they made it to Kennywood today! For dinner I got the Blueberry Pomegranate Chicken, which was just plain awesome. Jason got fish and chips because he hadn't been in England in like 2 days!! While I went with the Major Hops Olde Ale, which I'm glad they started brewing again. Good sweetness mixed with a different but good dry hopped finish Nicole was excited to see the Hinterland Hefe Weizen on tap Nodders had a little too much fun the night before at LBC so he stuck with ABC's root beer for now, while Mike went all out and tried the Hoppy Trails IPA, pretty big difference between that and the English IPAs to them a look at the current tap selection even dudes like Juggler! ABC welcomes people from all sorts of countries Back to ABC since the gang visited Lancaster Brewing the night before

Storm Runner thanks to Fahrenheit sucking up all the people's interest. Can't beat walk-ons on a Sunday afternoon!