DerekRx

Just another Saturday for BACT X (Beer and Coaster Team Extreme). What started out as a "let's check this place out" quickly transformed into a "hey, this place is on our way back" type of day. Where I chose to finish my night with some Midnight Wit. Nice and wheaty Heath was all about the Hedonism Red. Nice and hoppy And they've got more Legacy on tap than they did last night too! I was here last night, but not with Heath, so since it was "on the way" from nearby Beer Mart, we stopped by While Heath went with the Left Hand Snowbound, formerly the XXX-mas Freshly tapped was the Abita Christmas ale. Kinda mild, but its my 11th beer of Christmas! For our friends living in Chicago, this is what a bottle of Bell's Hopslam looks like. But we got it on tap We'd like to think we played a part in this mmm, Lindeman's Pomme on tap. This place rules! Since we were Kimless, we needed some nachos to help us stay coherant Just a tidbit, TDR had 40 kegs of Sierra Nevada Harvest Ale! The 2nd biggest place to have it only topped by Sierra Nevada itsself! And they've still got it, Adam! So the Bell's Hopslam was definitely the first order of business Compared to Spring House, this place was our Mecca. Here's our Hopslam and some other newbies just freshly tapped. Since it was on the way home, we figured we'd conquer both Drafting Rooms in the same afternoon and I finally could taste hints of juniper in the Juniper Pale Ale from Rogue As I figured, they didn't have it. But Heath made due with the Thomas Hooker Hop Meadow Up next, Spring House's Drafting Room for some Bell's Hopslam double IPA Definitely went nicely with the flame broiled burgers they served us And in the attached restaurant, they've got some good stuff on tap too, like Russian River Pliny the Elder Everything from Founders, to Bells, to Alesmith, to Great Lakes, to Victory and more, its all there Capone's in Norristown was our first stop, as they're supposed to have a really good selection of bottles to go. (and they do!)

^Dave, you made the right choice going with a woman who will bring you home some good craft beers! Tonight's Gladness festivities continue, but only after we do the annual tradition of getting buzzed first. Since I can pretty much drink bottles of anything at home for way cheaper and less smokey than most of the places around, I talked my coworkers into heading to Canal Street (which was finally opened this time) for some good ole Legacy brews. They were lacking a good selection of Legacy stuff (brewed in the basement, seriously) but they made up for it with what they had on tap, the Midnight Wit, Hedonism Red, and NorEaster Stout. And after all that was said and done, I managed to snag my 10th beer of Christmas, the Corsendonk Christmas Ale, which was fantastic. Then, it was off to eat like a bunch of ACErs, Amish style! And so, another Gladness is in the books for another 365 days but the beer drinking tradition shall continue daily until then! Still buzzed? Shelly hangs out with the Snowman Its no Gladness without the balancing of the cup This is the face of Gladness Up first for me was chicken, stuffing, corn, meatballs, and a cheesesteak Then it was time for Shelly to receive her big gift of the year, Gladness. A buffet of awesome Amish food for $8. With a nice sweet Belgian flavor, spices, cherries, and a taste of the holidays, it was definitely a hit Next up, the 10th beer of Christmas, Corsendonk Christmas Ale, on draft with the glass and everything Next up for me, the NorEaster Stout. Not as good as others I had yesterday, this one was more of a normal oatmeal, but I'm really starting to dig them, especially this time of year Down there they be brewing some good Legacy stuff, like Hoptimus Prime Jeff and Shelly, the Miller Lite family, even broke the norm and went micro, Jeff with a Hedonism, Shelly with a Midnight Wit At Canal Street, home of Legacy Brewing, I started out with the Hedonism Red, nice hoppy finish

Holding off on the 12 beers of Christmas for a day, tonight is Gladness. Which pretty much means I'll be eating at a buffet like an ACEr. But in true BACT style, I'll be drinking first! I'm so ready to go back to SoCal (for the beer, nothing more), so with that, tonight I decided to try the Green Flash West Coast IPA, a beer I sampled at the Liar's Club back in September, only this time in bottle form. Nice and citrusy, unfiltered particles floating around having fun. A little bit of alcohol presence, but the overall taste is of grapefruit and pine cones. Kinda like Stone's IPA, but not as good IMO. Not as good as Stone's stuff, but it takes me to where I want to be, especially when its cold and rainy outside Green Flash, the gateway to San Diego

Transformer Movie Official site has the trailer up as well as a new website (showing a screwed up version of Bay's idea of Cybertron). At the end of the preview you'll get to hear Prime speak. At least someone working on the movie was smart enough to cast Peter Cullen as the voice of Prime (the same guy who did his voice in the cartoon). Sounds a little off, but its still Prime to me, which will definitely help this movie from a fanboy standpoint. Rumor has it that Frank Welker is also going to be doing the voice of Megatron. We can only hope! Maybe it won't be as bad as the name Bay projects!

9th beer of Christmas coming up on this Thirsty Thursday. Since its the first day of Winter, I decided to go with a Winter Ale, by Mendocino Brewing's Saratoga Springs branch up in NY. Unlike some of the other Winter ales I've had this year, this one was really good, an oatmeal stout. Normally I don't care for oatmeal stouts, but when you throw in enough chocolate, coffee, and a sweet caramel beginning, I start to dig it. Plus it was really smooth. Since I was already on the stout side, I decided to follow it up with some Bell's Java Stout. Also really good, though this one was pure coffee, just like the name implies. I don't drink coffee in the morning, but maybe I'll start drinking coffee stouts for a good wakeup! Holy wakeup call! I don't like coffee, I don't really care too much for stouts, but put them together and I like it! Because I don't live in Chicago, I can get Bell's stuff, like the Java Stout I was expecting just a typical oatmeal stout. This is my surprised face, as it was much more First up, Mendocino's Winter Ale. Thick chocolate and coffee, yet smooth. Served in a Selins Grove glass for their anniversary today

Cedar Fair has no concept of theming at all. Look at their attempted themes at Knotts, or that awesome theming on Top Thrill Dragster and how long that lasted. Expect the Paramount parks to get plenty of trash cans, wide open spaces with bright concrete and anything from your childhood to be removed. I can only wonder how much longer the Treasure Cave will exist at PKD.

Its time to share the 8th Beer of Christmas with you all on this Wally Wednesday. Tonights gift to myself was the Bad Elf, all the way from Ridgeway over across the pond in England. It was surprisingly good as far as an IPA from England goes, but there wasn't much holidayness to the beer. Followed that up with a Magic Hat #9, always nice and fruity with a little bit of hoppiness. Better on a summer day, but still good on Winter-eve, #9. OK for a British IPA, but what does an IPA have to do with Christmas!? The Bad Elf, precursor to his 3 worse elf brothers

It definitely doesn't look like the same Transformers I grew up watching on tv and playing with (still do sometimes when I'm really bored). From the preview, it looks like something that could keep me interested for the duration, though I wish the robots looked less bionical-like. (where are you supposed to hide your doors, wheels, etc when you're a giant robot version of Paris Hilton, complete with buggy eyes and everything?) Bay will probably ruin it for me, as I haven't really liked anything else he's done, but I'll go see it in the theaters just to pay my respects to Optimus and the others. But I won't be there on opening day, I can guarantee that (unless there's a special showing on the TPR bus over in Spain!)

For my 7th beer of Christmas, I went with the Harpoon Winter Warmer, a beer a few of us really were surprised by at the Greak Brews of America beer festival at Split Rock back in November. Well, we must have been really REALLY drunk by that point, because this thing was pretty blah. This was pretty much like the Shipyard Pumpkinhead, only without any pumpkin or pumpkin spice, and just buttloads of cinnamon and a dash of nutmeg. No alcohol taste or maltiness or anything you'd expect from a winter beer, just cinnamon. Next was the Hop-ocalypse from Clay Pipe Brewing in Maryland. Somewhat reminded me of the Lost Coast Indica IPA, except not as good. Unfiltered but not an explosion of hops that the artwork or name would suggest. Kinda like a nice segway if you're going from pale ales to ipas. Not enough tree bark and chemicals for my taste, but still a decent brew. Its a good not-quite-IPA, but I was expecting more from the name and artwork. No explosions of hops or end of the world for me Cool artwork and a neat name is the main reason I chose to pick up this beer This is the face I make when I drink a cinnamon stick Harpoon's Winter Warmer (what warms you about cinnamon and nothing else??)

I can see where Disney is coming from. They're employing a Santa, they don't need someone who may look like him volunteering for the job too. Same way you wouldn't see an old Mickey Mouse costumed freak being allowed entry into the park. He may not be on the payroll, but if he's mistaken for a Disney employee, Disney is responsible for his actions. If nothing else, the guy should have just said "no, I'm not Santa Claus, but he may be around here somewhere"

For the 6th beer of Christmas, I decided upon the Allagash Grand Cru. Very fruity with a zesty tingle, I'm not exactly sure why they proclaim it to be a winter brew. I guess because of its alcohol content, but usually something like this I'd enjoy more when its warmer outside than the usual winter cold. Luckily for me there were record high temperatures today! Even Nan wants in on the good stuff Tart and tangy, and too easy to drink (luckily they ain't cheap!) For dessert, since we're already on a fruity beer kick, lets go to the king of fruity beers, the Lindemans Not bad stuff, just not very Christmasy Allagash's Grand Cru, its got a snowflake on it, that means winter

Dude, this is Heath and Kim we're talking about. They'll hit Sierra Nevada, Mendocino, Anderson Valley, Hair of the Dog, and Widmer on the same day, then tackle Thrillville and Enchanted Forest before attempting to finish their night up at Pyramid!

Looks like you guys had a good time despite the cold, rain, and the fact that its Magic Mountain. Good luck with your move, now we'll be expecting trip reports from Castles and Coasters

Ug, why does such a cool place have to be so far away from everything else in California. I'll get there someday, but until then I will experience Sierra Nevada from your perspective, Wally.

For my 5th beer of Christmas, I decided to try out something I grabbed yesterday at Shawan, the Otter Creek Alpine Ale. Twas a fairly malty amber ale with some slight hoppiness at the end. No real aftertones though. Wasn't too bad, but nothing noteworthy either An Otter Creek seasonal, the Alpine Ale, supposedly good after skiing, which I stopped doing years ago

Since we were already in Fells Point, Heath thought it would be worth a shot to go over to the other DuClaw there and see if the Venom was the way it's supposed to taste. After watching Uncle Buck, it was time to call it a night. Bet if we had more Wipeout we wouldn't have stopped so early! Starting to get tired Followed by the clincher, Jolly Pumpkin Oro de Calabaza Then, it was back home for the 4th beer of Christmas for me and the 8th for Heath, the Rudolph's Revenge. Pretty good and spicey Even the door handles here are cool looking A nice flavorful imperial stout, but not a lot of alcohol. Good! Nah, we'll stick with grabbing the Black Jack stout Wonder if we should try more Devil's Milk, see if its served properly here Cooler bar, and for some reason they have Magic Hat #9 on too Yes, the Venom was much better here, good enough to cause me to have a Heathface of hoppy happiness First up, the Venom, which Heath gets in his correct glass. Just a brief walk from Max's is the Fells Point DuClaw. My favorite of the two I've been to

After some Christmas shopping and a lame attempt at finding a Wii, we decided to continue our attack on Baltimore. Dave and Mary had things to do so we said our goodbyes and moved on to inner harbor. Good stuff, nice and flavorful Finally it was decided that we'd split a bottle of the Brian Boru from Three Floyds, an Irish Red ale This is the Tom's Dream section of taps hehe, the HeBrew Jewbilation! A beer kosher enough for Joey While I'm looking at the bottle list for something new Heath shows off the draft list This place has just a few more beers than Tom's. But not come Eastcoaster! Fresh from the pink elephant comes Heath's Delirium We decided to go Belgian for this visit. Green Flash Tripel for me. Very nice and spicy with some banana finish Here's the Wally Big Beer section that's roped off Old tap handles sit in the window They've got a lot of beer Moving on from Inner Harbor we ended up in Fells Point. After seeing some llamas, it was all about Max's Taphouse A shot of the tanks before we head out As for me, it was all about the Pale Rider Ale, much better than the Venom I had at Arundel Mills DuClaw Next for Heath, the Winter Ale, which was a hoppy brown ale A picture of the taps. Doesn't the Fuel look cute It even managed to win gold at this year's GABF in Denver Very heavily coffeed stout, quite espresso like. But its no Tim Horton's While Heath and myself went with the Fuel, a stout Even Kim was ready for a beer, the Amber Waves Ale Pretty cool big bar with some nice looking stuff on tap We're here because of Capitol City brewing Ooh, the aquarium and other inner harbor stuff. Not today for us

Saturday would see us down in the Baltimore area for some pubcrawling, but first, we needed to do some Christmas shopping...for ourselves! Then it was off to the Arundel Mills Mall for a little bit of shopping and some hopping. Best of all, Dave and Mary were able to join us for more drinking! Though we were confused by the type of glass we got it in To end the luncheon, Devil's Milk Barleywine was in order. Along with his Buffalo chicken salad to say hi to Nicole, he used his lettuce to attack Mary Dave was all jacked up on the newly released Black Jack Stout, an imperial Mary went with the Bare Ass Blonde Ale, which she enjoyed. Though she was tempted by the Venom, until we ordered it First up, some Venom Pale Ale for the Stone brothers. Sadly it tasted a bit off, not as citrusy as it should be No tables in the bar big enough for the 5 of us, so this was all I got of the bar itself Next stop, the DuClaw at the Arundel Mills Mall. Usually not a good idea at Christmas time, but we got there early enough Nope, some Pyramid, Green Flash, Clay Pipe, Jolly Pumpkin and a variety of winter brews We got plenty of stuff for ourselves, that you can't get back in PA without getting a whole case like Bud Ice? Only one reason to be awake at 9am on a Saturday, Shawan Liquors!

Twas another beer filled weekend. Friday night started out with a trip to the Rhoads' house for some much required drinking and awesome homemade food. Jimbo, you SO rock! Still gets the Kimface seal of hoppiness Heath worships Jimbo for his generosity. Wouldn't it be nice if you could just teleport to San Diego Hiro-style Truly amazing stuff. Best IPA ever! To finish the night, we opened up a very wonderful treat that just arrived earlier that day fresh from Jimbo, a Wipeout IPA And some Chinese eggrolls from scratch Here's that food to feed an army Kim was working on. Mexican pot stickers with chicken Though it could be better than my power to turn into a rodent Heath throws some raspberries out of his fingertips. Not a really good "Heroes" power Kim enjoyed its raspberry taste, but didn't want to drink too much and interfer with her cooking for an army Next, more Dogfish Head, this time the Fort Wasn't too bad I'm starting to enjoy stouts more and more Next up, my 3rd beer of Christmas and Heath's 7th, the Lump of Coal stout Very sweet with the extra time to chill First up, a bottle of 90 minute IPA from Dogfish Head that's been sitting in the fridge for 10 months

Thats awesome that the place burnt down and Hazmat was called in. Glad you didn't stick around though, KidTums coulda gotten some funk in her system. At least the bar didn't catch on fire!

I rode it once this year since a friend needed the credit. 1 train operation and a really jarring rough ride on the second half (and is this thing even big enough to have 2 halves!?). The launch was really intense and thrilling, as was the first drop, but I never cared for the ride from the beginning; its location, the capacity, the length. Poor Nicole, maybe missing out on another credit.

For the second beer of Christmas, I took myself to Stoudt's Brewing Company down the road. They've got some pretty good stuff, but its usually the same stuff all the time. Well luckily for me they got bored recently and starting brewing some new stuff, just in time for their 20th anniversary! For the 2nd beer of Christmas, Stoudt's Chocolate Nut Brown Winter Ale was up to bat. They took their regular Winter Ale and tweaked the recipe a bit, from a normally amber ale/porter mix to a nut brown. Then, they infused cocoa into the whole thing, giving it a really good almost stoutish finish. Really good stuff, and not much alcohol taste. Then, since I was there, I grabbed their cask of the moment, the Scarlet Lady ESB with Chamomile. Also very good stuff! Seriously, it had chamomile in it, and you can taste it (unlike other random dumb things people claim is in their beer) The cask conditioned was wow, room temperature bitter (like England) but with Chamomile finish. Soothed the soul! Chocolate Nut Brown Winter Ale; cocoa smell, nutty start, nice chocolate/coffee finish

I skipped Flying Fish on my visit in 2002 when it was opened because the line for it was too long to redeem worth waiting for. I could take it or leave it, especially if it doesn't have the theming that it used to. At least they listen to guests though and will bring the ride back, unlike other parks that just let it sit in the boneyard for 10 years until the thing can't function anymore.

In my line of work I see many people sick and eventually pass. I consider myself fortunate enough that we do not work on pediatric patients, simply because of all that innocense lost so early. I can't even imagine how hard it must be for you. I'm deeply sorry for your loss, I remember how excited you were to share the news of her conception with TPR several months ago.

I'd still like to know what Joe was thinking when he thru tomato sauce on hamburger while he was making a sausage taco/burrito. What was the proposed final meal supposed to be?? And 5 minutes in the oven! Joe totally needs his own cooking show on Food Network!