DerekRx

Just another day at home, on a Saturday (actually a very rare occurance!) Wow, this is fantastic! Hoppy and sweet. Elissa needs to check this out when she can drink again Oh yeah, and a Founders Red's Rye mmmm, sweet Moroccan Spices. Yum! Ozark Chicken Seasoning reminds me of Silver Dollar City For dinner, chicken tenders in various seasonings, like Anchor Bar Wing sauce. The original! Leaves me with a beerstache Its head somewhat resembles my haircut :\ For dinner, the headiest beer in a long time, Snake Dog IPA from Flying Dog Wow, great coffee flavor with a touch of chocolate First up, North Coast's Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout

My phones, a Treo 700WX and a black RAZR for international use.

Maybe she figured since her ex-boyfriend, JT, shaved his head, he's been having a really successful career, dating some major hotties, and pretty much is livin the good life, and if she did it too, the world would turn in her favor. Instead the world is turning and running the other way.

Holy crap! Somehow I teleported to Heath's place almost like Hiro-style (except I drove). Here's our evening's festivities: D'Extra point was GOOOOOD! And the crowd goes wild!! and to complete the night, some Dogfish Head Raison D'Extra that we picked up last week Check out that logo, it's like the dude is filling the glasses from his oil pan Just one more reason why San Diego is the place we shall retire (in like 40 years) Next up to bat on a Friday night, Pizza Port's Old Viscosity Meanwhile, Kim is sitting on the sofa kicking back a bottle of Hopocalypse from Clay Pipe. Yup, definitely the end of the world...or a really weak IPA Oh boy! Both a double IPA AND some random bursts of peppermint somehow. Those deceptors at Alesmith know their shtuff! Next in line, our retirement double IPA, the Yulesmith from Alesmith in San Diego Different from most doubles, it's more malty than most, but still hoptastic First call to arms, Hop Juice Double IPA by Two Brothers

It's Friday. Time to celebrate BACT style. First off, a can of IPA. A can?? Yup, a canned IPA from Oskar Blues Brewing in Lyons, Colorado. Wow, the Gordon is actually a really good brew! Who'd a thunk. What's next on the agenda, who knows! To balance the force I'll place the canned beer in a nice glass A canned microbrewed IPA. I'm a little unsure about this one... Either this is saved for Gordon, or the beer is named Gordon. I'm thinking the latter

From http://www.wjhg.com/news/headlines/5677356.html So after all that, the park could have remained opened for a few more years. Not that it would have really made a marginal turnaround . Nor would Cypress Gardens be able to become the park destination of Florida with the addition of the Starliner for a few more seasons if the Strip was still opened. Miracle Strip wasn't a great park, but it sure was nicer than Family Kingdom! What's next, Southport and the Pavilion projects go under too!?

Today I couldn't decide if I wanted to try a new beer, or enjoy another black and tan. So I did both! (I'm never going to lose weight at this rate) And another thirsty Thursday is under wraps. What will tomorrow bring, more beer! But wait, there's more. Always a good plan with a black and tan, 2 for the price of, um, 2 Another Black and Tan I can be proud of Nectar of Guinness. Brilliant! Next up, black and tans starring Nugget Nectar Not a bad IPA. Kinda weak on the hops, but it had a good flavor and was smooth First up, the Opa Opa IPA, otherwise known as the Buckwheat IPA, from Opa Opa Steakhouse and Brewery in Massachusetts

If it was actually named "Kater" and themed to food, it would be ACE's dream come true! I prefer the Maurer Sohne spinners over the Gerstlauers, but they're both more unique than the crazy mice.

I couldn't spend Valentine's Day with my woman, so I guess I'll have to spend it with my beer this year. This really is my beer love of the winter! Now if only winter would end (but the beer can stick around) Sticking with the Troeg's theme, more Nugget Nectar tonight I never actually had this before. Actually pretty good, not watery But it's not just Valentine's Day, it's also Dave's birthday. So here's some Troeg's Oatmeal Stout in his honor After leaving work early, getting stuck in the snow thanks to UPS, and shoveling a path for my car, I was ready to drink Yup, still snowy/icy with really crappy plowing jobs

OK, as good as your rest of the PTR was, the latest segment totally dominates everything. First the fog, then all the wonderful rides of the Magic Kingdom, then the Sea Gull of Evil. I want to go back NOW! Awesome job, Chuck. Now if we could only make you get ready in less time so you didn't have to "wake up early to catch an 11:30 bus!!"

The only coasters you'll really need to skip are the powered Dragon Wagon and the Lil Laser, which you cannot ride anyway. All the other coasters should be someone "fun" or "unique" to you in some fashion. The best order would be to do it immediately during the day (I'm assuming you'd go during the summer, just try to stay away from Saturdays), starting with Talon, working to the Wild Mouse, Hydra, then to Thunderhawk, Steel Force, and Laser, finishing with Woodstock's Express in Camp Snoopy. Flats worth riding are the Whip, Dominator, the Crazy Carts, Meteor, and Revolution, as well as some of the older stuff like the Pirate ship, Enterprise, and tilt a whirl. I don't normally eat in the park, but the Game Day Grill is probably the best place to grab lunch, followed by Subway. Also, try to incorporate Wildwater Kingdom if you enjoy waterparks. Just try to take care of the park first, and get to the waterpark around 5 or 6pm, by then most of the crowds will have transferred to Dorney. If you get there early, just chill in one of the wavepools or the lazy rivers.

^^If you head to our area of the world, we'll definitely hook you up with some of our better brews! ^Ew, not only did you choose a beer with a horrible name, you also hoped to make it better by placing it in Naked Fish worthy glassware. I hope you learned your lesson! As Heath said, the weather here is sucktacular. But unlike him embracing the dreadful snow and ice, I choose to dream of my retirement in San Diego, sipping down on Pizza Port for the remaining days of my life. Yeah, I really couldn't wait any longer to tap into my stash from Mass. Oh yeah! Not quite Blushing Monk (told ya, Ellen!) but it's still fantastic. Hurry up, Michigan's Adventure, Derek needs another reason to go up near Grand Rapids! But forget tomorrow, tonight ends with Founders Rubaeus, a raspberry beer Yup, still sleeting. Tomorrow will be a fun drive to work Hunger strikes, waffle ice cream sandwich fulfills Nugget is definitely good and holds its own, but it's no Wipeout (not that it's brewed to be) Instead of breaking opened another bottle of Wipeout, I decided to compare it with my new favorite winter brew, the Nugget Nectar Yup, still doing stuff, only now it's sleet Who really cares what's going on outside when this great beer is indoors? Not me! Good thing this bomber of Wipeout has no one to be shared with today! An hour later, still coming down Oh yeah, now THAT is the West Coast IPA standard So bring on San Diego via Massachusetts. Just a few more weeks baby! Not something I like driving in, shoveling, snow blowing, etc When I got home, this was the situation outside

Tip 1: Don't go to Knotts, you'll be saddened if you do Tip 2: If you are going in hope of riding Xcelerator, do it when it's actually opened. I don't see there being much problem with crowds on (I'm assuming) March 3. I know before that is a Physics Day, but that may help you out. Just be certain to head right to Xcelerator when you have the chance and you should be able to get in a ride or 2 with minimal waits.

Let's just hope that instead of spending craploads of money at art galleries, they actually focus their fundings to actually buying instruments NOT purchased for $8 at the local flea market.

Great job so far, Chuck! Glad you had a great time and that the weather and crowds cooperated. You're getting me antsy for my return to the mouse.

Tonight it was back to normal in Pennsylvania. So instead of diving right into my hoardings from Massachusetts, I decided to go with some other stuff first and savor that later in the week. First up tonight, probably one of the last beers I'll have from the now deceased Heavyweight out of Jersey (shame too, there was actually a really great brewery in that mess of a state!) Luckily it IS fresh and this year's batch. How I got the old label I have no idea! Next up, I opened the case of Nugget Nectar to find...last year's logo?!? Really malty with a nice fruity finish. Low on carbonation, but that's probably from being at least 8 months old Heavyweight's Stickenjab, an Alt beer

Before heading home on Sunday, Matt had talked us into going to a bar called Sunset Grill by BU. After seeing the menu at the beer festival, we were definitely interested. 112 different taps, 250 different bottles, and lots of good sounding assortments of food, that's pretty much perfect! Unfortunately, with the mixture of college kids and beer drinkers all converging on Boston this weekend, a lot of what we wanted to try was kicked. Oh well, we'll be back. and Red Rocket from Bear Republic for Adam the birthday boy The final beers of the weekend, Red Ale from Rock Art for me check out that mound of nachos! Adam went with the Gold Medal IPA from Avery, also pretty good I went with the Leather Lips IPA from The Tap since they were out of Hop Monster on cask. Very leathery More handles for when they actually have those beers on tap Look at all them taps! Get here early enough and the bar is yours. Plus they've got 3 bars! The Sunset Grill, lots of beer!

After the first session of the festival was over at 4, we had not yet begun to defile ourselves. It was off to Boston Beer Works, and then some other establishments we really wanted to get to while up in Boston. Fruits, praline, and vanilla, chocolate, and honey caramel gelati. Yum! But I went with the gelati sampler Adam and Ellen chose to split the Whole 9 Yards sampler of foo foo desserts All except me, who demands more beer. A Lindeman's Lambic Cassis will suffice It's cold out, so Hot Chocolate for all After a few hours, we were hungry again. Time for dessert! mmm, New Belgian beers. Hi Matt! Sadly, the place was packed. We didn't even get to sit. I prefer Selings Grove to this when it's full! I went with the Founder's Breakfast Stout, while Adam went with Collaboration not Litagation Ain't that the truth! a very nice selection of beers, all served properly Next stop, the Publick House, the #2 place to have a beer in America and so, with that, our 2 groups parted ways for the evening. But with my fuel cells filled with beer, I was ready for more, and so was Adam and Ellen Chowdah and beeah, what more do ya need? Poor Ellen isn't used to drinking so much, but Adam was ready for some Victory Red Heath went with Curley's Irish Stout, and Kim the Bunker Hill Blueberry Ale, complete with blueberries I chose the Back Bay IPA as my brew Looks like we beat the Beeradvocate people here, as there were still seats available Team Extreme gears up for some Boston Beer Works Luckily this city has a subway, called the T. And there were no Aqua Teen Hunger Bombs that I could see.

More from the festival: Heath thought this was the best anniversary he's had yet. Kim is too drunk not to agree Of course, the longest line of all was for the men's room! The beer fest will definitely be something we'll do again in the future No one told me Joey and Wes opened their own brewery! The Killer Penguin was actually very tasty for a barleywine, hoppy too Over at Boulder it was time for an Elissa approved beer, the Killer Penguin I enjoyed the Imperial IPA while Heath went with the Bourbon County Stout Even Goose Island came out for the event. Haha, we don't need you anymore, Matt!

Saturday was the whole reason for the trip to Boston, home of the 4th Annual Extreme Beer Festival sponsored by Beeradvocate. Lots of well known and local microbreweries show up every year, and always bring the highest alcohol content stuff with them, stuff that you normally cannot find unless you actually go to the brewpubs. This year was no exception and we were all pretty psyched to try as much as possible. We all did really well, getting not only most of what we wanted, but some other stuff too. Some beers were great, some were ok, some were really bad. In all, we sampled over 50 different types of beer all above 7%abv and still managed to do more afterwards! and Heath and I could enjoy some Festina Peche and Red and White Then it was back to Dogfish so Ellen could enjoy some more Sam and Heath was equally confused by the 17% The most unwiney barleywine I think I ever had A barleywine and some unknown 17% beer that the brewer didn't even know what style it was!? Up next, time to see what Wally is brewing up Soon thereafter, Heath and I made our way over to Pizza Port. While there was no Hop 15 yet, we did enjoy En Garde and Older Viscosity But one of the worst beers was Blood of 1000 Corpes by The Tap. Cool name, but ick, beet beer tastes like beets! One really hoptastic IPA I found was the Smuttynose Bigger A IPA. Good stuff This ain't a scene, it's a goddam arms race, or just a bunch of drunks craving more There was food there too to help us not get too drunk. I enjoyed a Belgian waffle (complete with sugar coating) to soak up some alcohol Even Kim won't pass up a shot at some Derek Ellen is super excited to have some Derek in her mouth Heath doesn't waste time in enjoying some Derek either I must say, I taste pretty good! Don't believe me, check out the bottle! Somewhere down the line I was able to finally enjoy myself, the Newport Storm Cyclone Series: Derek stout Ellen and I finally got to try the Red and White from DFH, a Belgian Right next to Sixpoint was the most popular spot, Dogfish Head, with Headbrewer Sam actually there pouring It was pretty good, but in no way was it Founder's Kentucky Breakfast After a few more Founder's goods, we made our way over to Sixpoint for some of the very last keg of Bolshoi, their Imperial Stout First beer of the festival, the Kentucky Breakfast Stout, a Top 5 beer in the world. Loaded with coffee and bourbon goodness Our first stop was Founder's from Michigan, which they don't distribute out our way Here's the home of the Extreme Beer Festival, the Cyclorama (which sounds more like a Coney Island ACE event) We got a hotel right in downtown so we wouldn't have too far to walk in case we were drunk; here's the view

I heard they were retheming the Rio del Tiempo because Disney purchased the 2nd T-rex for River Adventure from Universal and they wanted to incorporate it into the Mexico ride since everyone knows how closely related dinosaurs and Mexico are. At least that's what my friend from Mexico told me, but he's not an Imagineer or anything like that.

I always look forward to new flying scooters, and I love Idlewild. I wouldn't get too excited about snapping though, most places won't let you do it anymore. The majority of the new models are very hard to snap besides that, and they weigh a lot more than the old ones. I remember snapping the flyers at Celebration City and those suckers were so heavy I scared myself more than I ever did on Knoebels version.

Well, we all survived the weekend up in Boston for the Extreme Beer Festival. Plenty of pictures from the event and other activities up there coming in the next couple of days. Up first, the drive to Massachusetts, with a stop at a liquor store up there, and then dinner at a friend's restaurant. Major thanks to Matt for putting up with us on a Friday night. The food, the friends, the atmosphere, and the alcohol all were perfect! and then for a few more hours we hung around and drank more martinis like the warm apple pie martini made with warm apple cider, caramel, cinnamon, and sugar and it was very Belgiany and for dessert, Matt recommended Three Philosophers from Ommegang While I had a chicken breast with sweet potatoes with a nice sauce. Great stuff! For dinner, Adam and Ellen both got hanger steak and Ellen went with another martini Adam is in heaven with his Allagash Witte Meanwhile Adam and Ellen enjoyed a mound of Yukon Gold nachos My appetizer was calamari in a graham cracker coating with Frank's Red Hot Aioli Really hoppy for an irish red ale Next up for me, a local beer, the Hibernian from Harpoon Ellen pretty much tried every kind of martini Matt could make For Ellen, Matt was all ready to Martini Ah, HopDevil, a nice welcoming At Matt's Restaurant called Parlor he greeted us with some beers he doesn't normally carry but got them for us Good thing we packed lite and I was excited over the singles, mixed six packs, as well as the stuff they don't distribute in PA, like Pizza Port, Alesmith, and Founders Ellen was extremely excited over the variety of lambic ales With some time before dinner, we stopped off at Julio's Liquor, which is like a Wal-mart of alcohol

Just a brief little taste of what tomorrow's update from Heath will deliver, from my perspective... ...for the tastiest DuClaw release of the year, Naked Fish Chocolate Raspberry Stout. Amazing stuff! More tomorrow Kim enjoys some nachos during happy hour while we wait First up for me, some Serum Double IPA, released last month. Previously known as the Derekslayer, no longer the case We're back at DuClaw in Fells Point

I was wondering what kind of condition I could expect to see the Rattler in when I finally have a chance to get out there to ride it. It's always a good thing to see a park really showing some lovin' to it's pride and joy coasters.