DerekRx

A couple of good things today that I haven't had before (surprisingly!) Another excellent beer, very sweet, caramelly, and bitter to boot But I tried the Celebrator Doppelbock from Ayinger out of Germany With dinner, Nan had a Lionshead pilsner, just a typical night for her I will admit, it got much better as it warmed up. Still not the greatest, but it was far from the Southern Tier IPA, which is a good thing A bomber means room for 2, unless you're the only one drinking, then it's an added bonus A good IPA, but not the best in America as they were claimed to be First up was the Racer 5 IPA from Bear Republic

^Yeah, ask us, not Matt. He somehow picks up blueberries where there should be oranges. Unfortunately, we can't tell you anything about Goose Island, other than the Bourbon County Stout, Imperial IPA, and Debbie's Little Helper are awesome. The Goose isn't distributed in Pennsylvania yet (but Founders finally is, woohoo!!)

Well, finally May has arrived, and with it the grass has started to grow. After mowing it, I felt like enjoying a beer with some nice grassy tastes. Excellent stuff. Nice grassy tones and a crisp dryness. One of the best pale ales I've had Founders Dry Hopped Pale Ale, finally available in PA

After a few days with a cold, I finally tested my tastebuds again with that fantastic amber liquid known as beer. Woohoo! Still a little stuffy, but I can definitely taste all the wonderfulness of the HopDevil. The cold is pretty much gone! When in doubt of your tastebuds, always go for something you know quite well. For me it's the old HopDevil

Did someone mention beer? Oh, a Pennsylvania question, ok... Dave knows what he's talking about. For best results, I would suggest the following just to break up the driving more: Day 1 (NOT a weekend day!): Leave from CT early in the morning, head thru Jersey (keep your windows rolled up to prevent toxic fumes from entering the car), taking I-78 straight to Dorney. Do Dorney in the morning and early afternoon, then continue driving on I-78 to Hershey (but watch what time of day you leave Allentown, a stretch near Hamburg is under heavy construction and causes major delays, try to head out of Dorney before 4pm). After checking in at your hotel near Hershey, head over to the park to enjoy the twilight admission. Day 2: Return to Hershey Day 3: Head West, hitting Lakemont, Delgrossos, and possibly Idlewild if you want. Get a hotel in Monroeville, right off the Pittsburgh exit of the turnpike Day 4: Spend the day at Kennywood, back to Monroeville hotel Day 5: Head up to Conneaut Lake and Waldemeer if you want, hotel somewhere off of I-80 Day 6: Knoebels (drive towards home) Day 7: Finish drive home If you want to knock a few days off, you can skip Conneaut and Waldemeer, as well as Idlewild, Lakemont, and Delgrossos and save them for a future trip. Just remember, Conneaut has been in trouble of opening for several seasons now, but at the same time, Waldemeer is supposedly getting a new woodie next year, as is Delgrossos getting an Arrow looper.

Today was another beautiful day outside, with temps in the 80s! Perfect weather to break out a summer brew, fortunately I picked up some last weekend! Speaking of oranges, tonight was all about the Orange Blossom Cream Ale from Buffalo Bills. Definitely loaded with orange flavor, but not too much else; no real essence of hops or malt, more like a golden ale with Tang powder thrown in. Still, it wasn't bad and I'll probably pick up some more for the summer months. Not every beer needs to be high in alcohol content or loaded with hops to be good, especially when it's brutally hot out and you just want a refreshment. Loaded with orange flavor, it's definitely a beer I can see myself enjoying after mowing the grass this summer. Buffalo Bill's Brewing Orange Blossom Cream Ale, best enjoyed outside on a warm day

Interesting, I don't sense much orange in our batch. Did you get a strong taste of blueberry? My wife loves the Sunset Wheat because of the blueberry taste. Not much blueberry at all, though maybe they change the recipe year to year. This one was highly citrusy, especially oranges. Plus they'd add a wedge of orange to the glass (which was pretty cool considering it was only a taster). Even without the orange in the glass, you could definitely tell it was orange inspired. Heck, even the lip balm I got was nothing but oranges. Either you had a different beer, they changed the recipe for this year, or you really have no tastebuds at all, which would explain why you like the Lakefront Holiday Lager.

Sunday's weather was just as nice, so Heath and I just hung out all day and relaxed. Of course, we broke out some beers too for the season. Unlike some other dopplebocks, this one was sweet AND spicy, really complex and well balanced maltiness. To follow was the Incinerator Dopplebock from Two Brothers Brewing Very smooth, creamy, lemony, and perfect for the weather, with just a hint of hotdog water First up was the Southampton Double White Ale, a Belgian style

After hanging in Baltimore, we headed up to White Marsh to meet up with some friends in town at Red Brick Station. Of course, it was a Saturday night and we had a large group, and there were other large groups there (like a bunch of pre-Prom people, why go to a microbrewery for dinner before your prom when you cannot drink legally yet is beyond me). But I really think they did a great job of getting all of our orders right and served in a timely manner. But my favorite here was the newly added Wheat, very banana flavored Kim eagerly took away my Honeygo Lite So nice I got a pint of it as well My 900th different beer was the Daily Crisis IPA Even Mark and Amanda came to visit and have fun as part of their 6K training Heath was getting beered out, but still could manage the Spooner's Stout that Joey didn't want Joey also went with the sampler, while Chuck just got the Avenue Golden Ale Never being here before, I went with the sampler, at $4.50 it was a great deal A really nice location with a really nice atmosphere inside White Marsh's town center, home of White Marsh Brewing/Red Brick Station

Saturday had such perfect weather and temperatures in Baltimore that I'm glad we decided to do what we had already purchased tickets for a few weeks ago, the CityPaper Beer Festival in Fells Point. Lots of microbreweries that we're used to seeing: Troegs, Victory, Stoudts, Lancaster, and Dogfish Head as well as some more local places to Baltimore like Clay Pipe, DuClaw, Brewers Alley, The Wharf Rat, St. George, Rocky Run, and Brewers Art. Normally the event wouldn't draw much attention, but I think the location and the weather brought out a lot of people, and the event was sold out in less than 2 hours. and then some more hanging outside and taking in the rare nice weekend weather Best freebie of the festival, the Leinenkugers Sunset Wheat lip gloss Gotta get some grub, pot stickers and crab dip It didn't take long to crack the Enigma. It's a dopplebock When Roger showed up, I was enjoying some Venom, and not the Spiderman 3 villain dude, the Pale Ale As for me, I went with my love, the Naked Fish while they still had it and with the coupons we were given at the festival, Heath got to get 2 beers for 2 dollars! Of course, he went with Venom as well as some more Enigma DuClaw's bar area was pretty packed for a nonrelease day at 3pm It's no San Diego or Coronado, but it'll do for now But before heading inside, we decided to just sit and chill a bit and look at the harbor Of course, we had not yet begun to defile ourselves, so it was time to hit up DuClaw, which saw lots of people sitting outside because of the weather With great weather and great beers, hanging out on a Saturday with your friends is...GREAT! This is what a crowd of 1200 drunks looks like all crammed into one city block plaza area and of course we had to partake in a few of our favorites as well as trying out new stuff. Always going back to the HopDevil and the 60 Minute. So different, yet both so awesome Victory was sporting HopDevil and Golden Monkey the whole day Dogfish was representing with Raison de Etre and 60 Minute IPA, and usually had the longest line Choose thy fate, Fire or Ice...err Stout or IPA Kim really enjoyed the hit of the fest for us, the Leinenkugels Sunset Wheat, now distributed in Baltimore. Excellent stuff with a great orange taste. It was ok, pretty much a maibock, though a good portion of the stuff places brought was more lite and summertimely another coaster related beer, the Raven special lager from Baltimore Washington Brew Works The first stops were Troegs and DuClaw for some Sunshine Pils and Celtic Fury As usual, we got there before it opened, so we just chilled out and waited to be among the first ones in Back at the Bond Street Wharf, but this time we're not going to DuClaw...yet

Tonight I briefly had time to stop by Union Barrel Works for a beer during my adventures around Amish country. It has been opened for 2 weeks exactly and I've already been there 3 times, mainly because it's clean, has great beer, excellent food, and no smoking! While enjoying my Round Boy Stout, I talked to Tom again, who will be brewing up a Hefe for the summer. Can't wait to try that one out Back to the Barrel for some beer

Tonight would see Heath and I gathering rarely on a Wednesday, as he soon will be starting a new job and won't be able to get out of work early enough to enjoy some of the rarer weekday beer events. Tonight was supposed to be DuClaw for him and Kim, but instead some Founders sightings took us to enjoy some Russian River goodness far away in Norristown, just outside of Philly. Bellies full and growlers filled, we were off for home and ready for the next couple of days. Definitely enjoyed our Russian River Night at Capone's. While I respected my Pliny the Elder, such a wonderful Double IPA Why go to Russian River night if you're not going to partake in some Russian River goodness? So now, it's Pliny time! The Younger was Heath's choice As for Heath, he went with the Rueben, which he also inhaled Of course, you can't go to Capone's without having one of their superb hamburgers, as both Kim and myself did Heath went with the Thomas Hooker Porter, very heavy on the oak aging. Yum Then it was into Capone's Restaurant to enjoy their monthly "night", this month's theme, Russian River. First up for me was the Reichelbrau Eisbock from Kulmbacher in Germany. Most excellent and when we resurface, we've got goods such as Lost Abbey's Judgement Day and plenty of Founder's Devil Dancer Double IPA and Kentucky Bourbon Breakfast Stout to keep us happy and posting for some time First stop as usual will be the 6pack shop in the back, where Kim shows off a bottle that we'll be enjoying this weekend, the Southampton Double White Ale Capone's?! On a weeknight, and Heath's got an empty growler. This can only mean one thing, some seriously good beers!

Just settled on another Victory beer for the evening. I think I had this one before once or twice. mmm, a nice malty backbone with a great hop balance and kick. Why hello Mr. HopDevil!

Congrats on winning. If only you had been Alice in Wonderland, I know one tall dude who'd be there, come hell or high water! I hope you enjoy your job and get a good turnout from the TPR gang.

Still cold, windy, and raining here in PA. By now you'd think we'd be enjoying some Spring Ales or Maibocks, but that just isn't the case. Time to enjoy another winter brew, good thing I just reloaded on this the other day. Creamy, coffee, with a lite chocolate taste and a fantastic hoppy finish. Good old Storm King Imperial Stout, weighing in at 9.1%

The only time I've had problems with Flash Pass at SFGAd was all because of Kingda Ka. We reserved it, but it had like a 2 hour wait and kept breaking down, therefore constantly pushing back our ride return time. After we rode it though, everything else went fine. Of the rides at SFGAd, I would say reserve El Toro first, then go ride the other coasters around it (Medusa, Runaway Train, Rolling Thunder), then move on to reserve Chiller, riding Batman, Nitro, Skull Mt, etc while you wait for your time on Chiller. Next, reserve Superman, riding Scream Machine and other rides in that area. Finally, reserve Kingda Ka as that will be the ride with the longest wait. Of course, if you get the Gold Flash Pass, you'll have really little wait times, and can probably ride everything over and over again. The most popular rides will be El Toro, Kingda Ka, Superman, and Chiller though, followed by Nitro and Batman.

Our original plan for yesterday was to head back to Pittsburgh for some tasty goodness, but then we hit a snag in the form of automotive repairs. So instead we decided to stay local and do some brewhopping in the suburbs of Philly, something we won't be doing a lot of for quite some time with the coaster season inching upon us. and although he didn't have a sign made up, Heath was proud to drink his 300th different beer for the year, Avery's Salvation The firkin of Hoptimus was a real treat, and we got to keep the glasses oh yeah, gotta get some of their awesome wings too. Nice and hot with great flavor Good stuff! and finally the firkin of Hoptimus Prime was tapped after we arrived and started chanting and Heath couldn't pass up Gordon on draft I got the Rogue Batch 10,000, not bad but not the best. Glad I didn't have to spend $20 on a bottle! Even Kim wanted to enjoy some of their tasty beer and our final stop for the night, Union Jacks and then we split the Instigator Dopplebock I grabbed the Phoenix IPA, one of their new single hop IPAs for the year Heath was lucky enough to get some Dude de Garde, as they hadn't run out yet since my visit 2 weeks ago Then it was off to Sly Fox Then time for a round, the new Saffire Bock for me, and St. Victorious Dopplebock for Heath Most important stop, the merch shop Finally we made it back to Victory and I went with the Antwerpen from Brooklyn, a Belgian Pale Ale Heath got the Sour Cherry Stout from Blue Point, hoping it would taste like Bell's Cherry Stout. It didn't, way too much alcohol taste It's IPA month, but nothing is really striking us, so we opt for a different style Up next, a quick drive to The Drafting Room for a round And Heath decided to try the dark lager, Nevermore Lager Next up, the Prussia's Pride IPA on cask, nice and creamy and to snack on, some nachos Heath dug it too, though he misses San Diego even more now Not too piney, but it did have a nice citrusy taste Made with only 1 type of hop, the Chinook. Apparently Rock Bottom is going to try and be like Sly Fox, introducing lots of single hop varieties this year The board which shows the newly added Hop Bomb West Coast IPA Our first stop was Rock Bottom at the King of Prussia mall, as they had recently tapped a new IPA

Tonight I decided to break out a bomber of a nice Imperial IPA, the Odyssey '06 from Sly Fox. Only 8 more months until the next Odyssey! But I'm all alone drinking this tonight, and I'm fine with that! A bomber means 2 glasses, unless you have someone to share with But unlike the Southern Tier stuff, this is actually good I still got lots of bombers of this downstairs

I don't have, nor will I conform to an iPod. At least not until the craze has ended. Though my next computer will most likely be a MacBook.

Forgot to post yesterday! I'm in the process of cleaning out my stock so I can get some more. In the cleaning, I discovered some stuff I hadn't had in a while, so I decided to go for that. (of course, if I forgot about it for so long, there's probably a good reason for it!) The only thing that disappoints about this is that I'll soon be out for the rest of the year Forget that, I need a good hoppy beer. Nugget to the rescue Yup, still as craptastic as I remember (although the extra aging did give it more of an alcohol flavor, so now at least it has some flavor!) Awwww yeah, the Southern Tier IPA, the origin of "tree bark and chemicals"

I think this sounds kinda cool. I always liked the "history" of communication scenes leading up to looking down on earth, but then after that it was just meh. This sounds like it'll actually put forth a little bit of an old Horizons aspect on things, instead of telling us crazy stuff, like that we'll be using our computers to chat with others across the globe. Like that'll ever happen!

I don't know if Ohio people get pissy when an Ohio park doesn't add a new coaster for 2 years, but I do know they get overly excited when one of their parks does get a new coaster, even if that new coaster is coming from another Ohio park.

Europa is one of those parks that has extensive theming and not a bad coaster in it. If Shapiro learned anything from this, Six Flags may just see some more appropriate theming returning to its parks, or at least a Mack coaster.

Forget the Double Dog. Tonight for me was all about the Double Bastard, a beer I hadn't enjoyed in a few months. Of course, with it being such a strong ale at 10%, there's probably a good reason for that! Whoa! Now that's crazy! What could make this beer better? How about Optimus Prime with a cannon!? Just an overall fantastic flavor; sweet, malty, hoppy, and spiced all at the same time "Ye Shall Know the Bastard, and the Bastard Shall Set You Free" or so the bottle says

Nicole hasn't been on Apollo's Chariot yet, but I prefer Nitro. Apollo is a nice ride with lots of fun floater air, but I think I like Nitro's drop and U-turn and helix better than Apollo's first drop and random turnaround.