DerekRx

Over the weekend Nicole and I took a short trip down to Central Florida for some off-season coaster riding. While down at Sea World and Busch Gardens, we figured we may as well partake in the free beers offered at the Hospitality House. Then, after 2 days of macrobrews, it was time to reintroduce microbrews back into the system at one of the few brewpubs in Florida. My friend? Really!? Such was our first visit to TBBC. We'll definitely come back the next time we're heading to BGA. Close by, and easy to get to I-4 from. The Jack the Quaffer London Porter was also one of the more standout beers. Nicole enjoyed her salad and root beer, also brewed on site The food was good too, like my Hawaiian Pizza Of them, they were all pretty darn good. Nothing super amazing, but all quality for their styles. The Old Elephant Foot IPA was very earthy So many options, may as well grab the sampler, which comes on a cool board The current tap list, with some seasonal offerings as well as the staples and some of the tables even have mummified ingredients and the dining room has a real nice homey feeling There's also a smaller bar area in the back, but it wasn't in use during this trip Everything is brewed on premises, with all the goodies scattered around the place as well as some guest taps from some of the more popular international brews Plenty of taps of their own goods The place has a cool feel to it, with a nice bar area Since we spent most of the day outdoors already, we decided to head inside Located in a cool little shopping area, there is both outside and inside seating Why, Tampa Bay Brewing Company, of course! Not but 15 minutes from Busch Gardens we find ourselves in Ybor City. What could be here? and at Busch Gardens, some Bare Knuckle Stout for Nicole and more Winter Bourbon for me. Now, onto the real fun!... At Sea World it was some Widmer Bros Hefeweizen for Nicole and Winter Bourbon Cask Ale for me. The Winter ale wasn't half bad, lots of vanilla notes, but not much of anything else.

I sure don't like how Ted's helper now randomizes your ridden list, makes it a lot tougher to find the stuff you've ridden for a more accurate ranking. It takes too long when your count is so large!

^These days I usually only take pictures if it's new or worth posting, so....time to enjoy some brews from the last several days, all compliments of Heath. Much better, it even gets the thumbs up! Sweet, but also offering some uniqueness like fruity notes and a floral hop finish. A really good American attempt at a Marzen Finally, in an attempt to turn back time, some Great Lakes Oktoberfest Christmas spices mixed with malty sweetness made for a gingerbread cookie covered in caramel, definitely a weird winter warmer that was sorta thin Tonight is Great Lakes Night, starting with the Christmas Ale Really sweet stuff, lots of honey mixed with caramel and such Yesterday, Sam Adams Honey Porter, properly served in a Sam Adams awesomeness glass It's a nice witbier with some coriander and lemon peel flavors, but I don't know how wintery it is. Tastes good though! First, Bell's Winter White Ale, fitting for this time of year

Even though it's crappy Winter time, there's plenty of reasons to be happy. One is that Justin should hopefully be heading to Bend soon and will return with a Deschutes report. Another reason, Troeg's Nugget Nectar has returned for the season, this year a whole month earlier than usual! but Gumballhead doesn't make the winter go away. Oh well, I know how to deal with that, it's soon time to pay an old friend a visit... It's wheaty, it's sweet, it's piney, it's balanced, it's Summery, it's fantastic! super foamy Three Floyds Gumballhead, GO! Blah! It's snowing, thus finally proving it really is Winter. Perhaps I should drink something more Summery to make this go away And how fresh it is! The fresher, the more piney, and this stuff is as fresh as it gets, meaning it's like shoving a straw into a pine tree and sucking out the sap Just released, it's the time of year to celebrate the return of Nugget Nectar!

Yeah, because we all know how good the last V&M built Gravity Group woodie built ran in it's first season.

Nice to see some activity going on in here. Time to contribute some stuff I had this week. and since it was my 10th visit, I got another free gift because I'm in their mug club, which is completely free! Hey Jahan, I got a pint glass just for you for when you turn 21! Since it was on cask as well, that's where I started. Using nothing but Simcoe hops, this one had nice grapefruit and grass flavors with a little malty backbone and a dry pine finish. And on cask, it was even smoother and creamier Finally, today it was back to Rock Bottom to try their latest offering, the Sub Zero IPA, which we missed out on last year because of trouble finding parking. Oh yeah, this stuff is fantastic! Lots of different hops make this one really strong. Nicole said it gave me pot breath Last night, time to crack open a hop bomb in the Port Brewing Hop-15 Hey Joe and Justin, I've got ya covered with this year's batch of Troegs awesomeness, as fresh as it comes! Loaded with coffee flavor, nice and thick too! Shame it's only seasonal, guess I better cherish my remaining bottles and save them for special occasions Thanks to Joe, it's time for me to Wake-N-Bake with some Terrapin goodness. Look Bubba, no crazy head! For our UK friends, a Samuel Smith Winter Welcome, with lots of maltiness, tastes of butterscotch, toffee, and caramel, with a nice bitter finish Lots of hops, but not a lot of alcohol taste makes this one trouble making double IPA A local seasonal favorite, Hop Wallop, a double IPA One day I decided on the Sierra Nevada Celebration 2007, pretty good stuff, nice and hoppy

Over the weekend I decided to crack open something else I got from Justin last month, all the way from McMenamins Brewing, Hammerhead Ale. It survived its cross country journey well, and was pretty hoppy for a pale ale, almost like an IPA-lite. Good stuff, and nicely balanced. Thanks, Justin! Hammerhead Ale, an American Pale Ale from the Pacific Northwest

Larry, does that mean you don't want to help me bring coaster patches back into style? You know how hot you'd look in a sleeveless t-shirts covered in patches.

Yay! Turtles!!!!! Now I have another reason to go back to Chicago other than for the hot dogs.

We're hoping to head down to Florida later in the month/early in Feb, it sure would be nice if Busch Gardens would get their website up to date for the new year as far as ride closures so we won't be as disappointed when we show up to discover some sweet coaster is closed. As difficult as the website may be to navigate these days, their sister park, Sea World, at least informs us of when stuff is closed, unlike Busch, which still shows the closures for 2007. Emails to the park pretty much tell us to "keep checking the website". Good to know, assuming I have a time machine and used it to go back to late January 2007, where I would have discovered Montu to be closed.

This is a great idea! Years ago I thought it'd be cool to save some of my coaster shirts with cool logos or designs and make them into wall hangings, but they mostly all just became dirty old rags for cleaning my car with. Oh well, some of those coaster shirts probably deserve nothing less *cough* Son of Beast, Hercules, Drachen Fire *cough*

^Well, if more people contributed to this thread, maybe some of us would be more inclined to share. We're not a freaking circus providing free shows for everyone, you know! But fine, you want awesome beerness, we're here to deliver. Calling out BACT to assault The Drafting Room for the Official Release of Victory's Baltic Thunder as well as saying a final hello and goodbye to Heavyweight and some of their most fantastic brews during their event "One Final Victory For Heavyweight". Brief synopsis: Heavyweight was an awesome brewery in New Jersey, but NJ has weird laws when it comes to microbreweries, you're either a brewpub (meaning you can sell beers on premises along with food and such) or you're a brewery (meaning you can bottle your beer and sell to people for consumption at home), but you can't be both. The owners of Heavyweight got tired of just brewing for people at home, but since they were in Jersey, they had to change. Thus they closed up shop, sold one of their most awesome beer recipes (Perkuno's Hammer Imperial Porter) to Victory Brewing in PA, and are now looking at opening up their own brewpub in the suburbs of Philadelphia (with a new name and all). But in the meantime, here's the last of Heavyweight's goods, as well as the release of Victory's take on Perkuno's Hammer, called Baltic Thunder. Appropriate that The Drafting Room hosts the event, as they were the ones to host the going away party for Heavyweight back in 2006. and as we part ways, major props to Kim, as we have some bottles of Baltic Thunder to enjoy at a later date thanks to her driving to Victory to pick us up some bottles while we enjoyed the event at The Drafting Room. And there you have another update from BACT, bringing in the new year with gusto! Not nearly as good as each of its parts separate, but definitely unique and tolerable. But first, they broke out some really rare Symposium Ale from 2005, consisting of lots of different beers from around our region that we just had to try Tis getting slightly cramped in this place, soon time to head on out Whoa! This one was loaded with ginger, which really came out as the beer warmed up. Sushi would go well with this, and maybe we'll try that next month, since we nabbed another bottle on the way out. Next up, we went back to the bottles of Heavyweight, which we were planning on purchasing and saving for future consumption, but apparently others had the same idea, as they were out of the ones we were most anticipating. Sadly, no Black Ocean for any of us, which we were really hoping to try. Thanks to "D" though, we were able to snag a bottle of Jakeldricka, a really funky fruit/spiced beer, which we all shared. But Perkuno's Hammer was fantastic. Maybe because of the black eyed peas added to it, maybe the 2 years of extra fermentation, but this was definitely a beer drinkers beer, with everything Baltic Thunder had and some sour notes as well. Baltic Thunder was very drinkable and went well with dinner, with some alcohol taste and coffee and chocolate flavors, definitely an awesome Baltic Porter Seeing how busy it was becoming, we quickly grabbed our vertical tastings of Baltic Thunder vs Perkuno's Hammer to go along with our Slice of Bread. Thanks to our early arrival, we got a table. Shortly after 12, people were left with standing room only. HAHA! A new year, time to get the team back together; and we all loved this beer, even if it's been aging for almost 2 years. Sour notes and some rye punch left as well. Wish we could get more of this one! Before jumping into the drafts, we decided to start out with some rare Heavyweight bottles, like Slice of Bread, a rye ale. And thanks to the Drafting Room, we were able to enjoy all beers in 10 oz instead of pints, helps with the weight gain and stuff we're trying to lower this early in 2008 When the event kicks off, we're off in an epic battle to enjoy some of the very last known bottles of Heavyweight beers, as well as a most rarest chance to enjoy a vertical tasting of draft Heavyweight Perkuno's Hammer Imperial Porter and Victory's Baltic Thunder Imperial Porter, brewed from the same recipe with slight alterations. Newly distributed in PA but nothing more than an old acquaintance to me, we'll start out with Racer 5 IPA from Bear Republic The draft list, and getting there a bit before "kickoff" thanks to the coaster enthusiast mentality, I had to choose something else to start out with It was supposed to go off without a hitch back in October, but there was a hitch (bottling), so it finally happened today

I don't know if I agree with his WDW closing theory, but I'm very impressed that he has already discovered the truth about people at such an early age. When I was 14, I only hypothesized that the entire world population was a bunch of idiots and probably would be the cause of the world's destruction. Took me at least until college to determine I was right.

I didn't have a chance to get there in 2007, but I intend to get there in 2008. I've been wanting to try one of these for quite some time, and not only does is it close enough (and officially opened) but also pretty much on our way for this year's plans, so it's definitely on the agenda....and yes, I'd say it qualifies as a coaster.

Woohoo! 10 for 10. Maybe I can give Jahan a run for his money when it comes to Disney....nah!

"Becoming the Bull" - Atreyu

This week's brews, many of which were a Christmas present, thanks Heath! But WOW this was actually shockingly good. LOADED with chocolate flavors from all angles with some coffee and hops mixed in a bit, but mainly chocolate: baking chocolate powder, chocolate syrup, and fudge. I'm impressed with Southern Tier for a change! Finally, after a stop at Union Jacks yesterday for lunch and some Breakfast Stout, I walked away with Southern Tier's latest attempts, like this Choklat Imperial Stout. Of course we all know how I feel about Southern Tier, so I'm not expecting much even after all the hype another good attempt by them, this one had lots of grapefruit and grassy hop flavors mixed with some caramel sweetness Mendocino's latest winter special, the Imperial IPA Very much like Arrogant Bastard, only with more grapefruity hop kick Time to enjoy some Nosferatu from Great Lakes, a strong ale Wow, this one was definitely hopped out, just like the label warned First up, Sam Adams Hallertau Imperial Pilsner

^Yeah, isn't that lovely, no expiration anywhere on the pass. Best of all, the voucher for the 2008 Platinum Pass also has no indication of when it expires, AND specifically says "parking only valid at Dorney Park" when apparently it's supposed to be good chainwide. CF STILL can't get things right.

It's Christmas, what a perfect time to enjoy some of this year's beers made just for the occasion. and no better time than Christmas Day to crack open 2007's Christmas Ale from Sly Fox. Lots of cinnamon, nutmeg, and even some pine notes. Merry Christmas!! A nice sweet brown ale with some holiday spices First up, on Christmas Eve I'll have a Goose Island Christmas Ale, a Christmas gift from Heath

I believe I read somewhere that CF was changing the policy for 2008, making all Platinum passes chain wide good 1/1/08-12/31/08. Somewhere it states that if you purchase your 2008 pass at some park and they aren't opened, you can get it processed at Knotts instead, since they're all the same price now. At least a stop at Guest Relations won't be necessary anymore thanks to their new computer system being chain wide too.

Some goodness in this week leading up to Christmas, starting off with a trip to the King of Prussia Mall. Am we insane? No, we just want to get to the tapping of Rock Bottom's newest brew. I went with the Olde Frosty IPA, a darker IPA than usual, somewhat like Sierra Nevada's Celebration Ale, and Nicole went with the RazzMerry, an awesome Raspberry infused brown ale just loaded with sweet and tart tastes. The night before they celebrated their 11th anniversary, and had a big party. Lots of stuff was out, but the two things we wanted most were still on, and free cake! Saturday it was off to Selinsgrove to see what Christmas goodness was on Next year is looking like it's starting off good as well. Time to schedule a return trip in late January and so cask St Nick's is what I went with. Nice piney notes from the centennial hops. Rock Bottom's newest brew, the St. Nicks IPA was tapped tonight. Sadly, no special release party like DuClaw, but I did have the chance to get it on cask

^Well, tis the season for giving, and it seems the Spears girls are all too willing to give

Looks like Zoey must have been skipping school on the day where they discussed safe sex in health class.

The other day I got a very special package all the way from Oregon. Time to enjoy some early Christmas cheer from across country, thanks to Justin. Good stuff. Very bready with good hints of cherries, raisins, coffee, and a hop count to balance it all out. Thanks a bundle for the opportunity, Justin! Deschutes Jubelale 2007, a Winter Warmer, certainly something that'll come in handy right now here in PA

Like mostly everyone else, I don't like this one bit. While it may seem good to some extent, I'm not so sure how Kennywood will benefit in the long run. Their business sense may work for the European parks, but I don't see how Kennywood will be able to preserve its traditional classic American charm while still meshing with modern times. Plus I just hope this place doesn't turn out like Six Flags in the late 90s, buying every park in sight and then having to sell them off after dumping too much money into them in an attempt to attract a wider clientele. The last thing I'd want to see is Kennywood getting sold off to Cedar Fair or Six Flags in another 5 years, same with Idlewild and Compounce.