DerekRx

mmmm, smoked and charred gator, tastes like chicken! Sad that another classic Florida attraction is now hurting a little bit more. I used to drive by Gatorland on my way to work every day, sure beat the traffic on I-4!

Nope, I believe its only served draft. And its good!

^Hey, its cool if you want that tattoo as well. Even if the beer eventually does turn crappy (dread the thought) or Victory closes its doors (better not!) at least its a cool looking design.

Heath and Kim were within 30 miles of my house last night, so they stopped by and off to drink we went again! So much he wants to take the bottle home with him (of course, he forgot it!) Heath digs this big time Oh my, thats some good stuff. Very chocolatey To finish off the night, we went and split a bottle of Avery's Mephistopheles Stout But Pliny left her with the hopface Even Kim enjoyed it Very good stuff, but I liked the hopped up version a bit better As for me, I went with a bottle of Luciernaga from Jolly Pumpkin, a Belgian Pale Ale in Grand Cru style next, Heath went with the Southampton Pumpkin Ale. Too much spice and not enough pumpkin for him though Adam tastes pretty good! and Kim loves the way Adam tastes in her mouth Heath doesn't mind Adam Something just seems odd about drinking Adam As promised, I got the Hair of the Dog Adam, an old world ale Next up, Russian Rivers Pliny the Younger. Odd ipa I started out with Middle Ages 11th Anniversary Double Wheat. Banana-y and hop hints Lindemanns on tap, Kim couldn't resist First for him, Legacy's Hoptimus Prime double ipa So instead we went to Union Jacks. Heath was very happily looking over the tap list But they were closed for a wedding!? WTF! Our plan: Canal Street, home of Legacy Brewing

With no coaster trips this weekend (or any other weekend for the rest of the year) I decided it was finally a good time to get another tattoo. I knew I wouldn't be swimming for at least 2 weeks, no sunburn could happen, and I won't be going into the ocean. When my coworker told me it would be my Christmas present, I jumped on the chance to get it. And since I thought about getting this design for quite some time, I figured this would be a great time to do so, after accumulating over 500 different beer credits. I've gotten 2 tattoos in the past, and needles don't really bother me, so it wasn't really painful. And yes, they are addicting, but I think I only need 1 more after this Now I'll always have a HopDevil with me at all times Comparison shot of the art and its inspiration All finished, and looking good First coloring, the green. Now we just need the horns and the highlights The outline is all finished, now we just need some color The outline is defined in black The artist gets ready to do his thing The blueprint is marked out on my leg Step 1: I get my leg shaved Here's where I'll be for the next hour So off to the tattoo parlor I go! This space is for rent

Thanks to the wonders of the beer thread, I was able to go back and actually document how many beers I've had and put them in chronological order backwards up thru the end of 2005. It was determined that I broke 500 last night with the Braumeister Pils from Victory. Appropriately, today I had an appointment to get inked (early Christmas present from coworker). More pictures of the event eventually, but for right now, in celebration of the event, its time for a HopDevil. A fine choice in beers, may it forever be this good (otherwise I'm gonna look stupid with its logo on my leg!) The three Devils

^awww, Bret is posting to the beer thread! Either I'm drunk or life is really good (or its a combination of both!). Tonight was "Hop Harvest Night" for some of us BACTers. First stop, Victory brewing, for what we thought would be dinner and the newly tapped 2006 edition of Hop Wallop Double IPA.... The Drafting Room in Exton definitely gets the BACT seal of approval. And since we're such VIPs, we even managed to score some pint glasses which are usually only given out during special events. We rule, we know! Ut oh, big Sierra Nevada tapping later next week, whats up with that!? But my dessert was more peachy-keen! To finish off the night, Heath went the Sly Fox route with the Nugget IPA Coconut Cashew Chicken was on my palate, but only because Tacos weren't on the menu Heath do done gotted the gumbo for his food Whereas I prime myself for Sly Fox's Project IPA-fest next month, by sampling their Newport IPA Right before dinner Heath breaks into the Double IPA from Mad River Our appetizer was Belgian Ale and Cheese fondue! But she couldn't handle the Harvest Ale, too hoppy for her NOT to make the hopface And Kim even enjoyed a Lindemann's Peche on tap! They had it, the boys were happy, and it was amazing! Almost a perfect beer, with loads of hops and hops aftertaste, but not overwhelming But our main reason for coming here, the hope of Sierra Nevada Harvest Ale 2006, a wet hop pale ale Big Beer list!? Yes, there is one, and its got some awesome stuff on it, like Jolly Pumpkin Oro de Calabaza and North Coast Brother Thelonius Yeah, we'll be back here fo sho! Lots of bottles in stock too, not just drafts Heath is a happy man With a SpectBACTular draft menu, every month with a different theme. This month Double IPAs! A few miles later, we end up at the Drafting Room in Exton! While I dig right into the Harvest Ale, a wet Hop Ale Unknownst to us, the Hop Harvests were now on tap. Heath enjoys the BrauMeister Pils, a wet hop pilsner But not before getting some new beer creds in With an hour and a half wait for food, we'll opt out this time Um, wow, its crowded tonight! A bit later than we expected thanks to Baltimore traffic, but we still made it to Victory!

^Technically you WILL be paying to see it, as you'll need a flight down for the weekend

^As awesome as the Halloween party looked (and was in previous years in my own experience) it has nothing on Eastcoaster. A whole bunch of friends together, loads upon loads of food, singing, and almost as much drinking as Oktoberfest, its beyond awesome. Now if we can get Dave Thomas to come up again, thats the only way it would be more awesome! Oh, plus we may just go over the top now that I've discovered a place to get Stone IPA on tap!

Yeah, way too many characters, and yet they keep killing off the good ones. Much like Dinosaur, Lost seems to get stupider and stupider every time I see it. Seeing the swarm again was cool, but now having it physically pick Eko up and throw him around was pretty stupid. And leaving the black guy alone in the woods in the first place, if that's not screaming "KILL ME" I don't know what is.

Another Flying Dog presentation, this time their IPA, the Snake Dog IPA. In short, lots of head, good citrus flavor, turning to a bit of hoppiness as the beer got warmer. Woohoo! Even more hoppy than before. Fantasicominal! Back to clearing out the fridge for this year's prep. One more Celebration Ale Vintage '05 to enjoy Good stuff, nice citrus flavor, with a hop finish OK, now its all out of the bottle and into the glass...only took about 15 minutes! Settling a bit more... Yaoza, thats not much beer to fill that cup! At first pour, holy head Batman!

"Whispers in the Dark"- Skillet

As ordinary as an SLC is these days, I have a feeling it will be really good for Pleasure Beach, as they only have 1 other inverting coaster in the park. Kinda a bad cop-out though, all the hype over the year about the new thrilling exciting ride coming, and then its just the SLC that was down the street. I probably wouldn't feel as meh about it if they had got it in conjunction with another coaster (like a new Mauer Sohne SC2000/3000 spinner), but this isn't the same Blackpool as yesteryear. Love the updated sign

I ranked El Toro and Voyage right next to each other, but gave the higher ranking to Voyage. Even if it wasn't better than Toro (which I think it is), I still would give credit to the ride simply because it opened with the park, not 3 hours late every day! But it doesn't matter, Balder is king!

"You"- Breaking Benjamin

My favorite types of rolls are Florida rolls (salmon, tuna, avacado, roe, cream cheese) but I also like Hawaiian rolls (the same but with pineapple instead of avacado) and Kiwi Rolls (slices of kiwi on top of the Salmon and tuna). Of course, I can rarely get that stuff up North, so I stick with the typical spicy tuna and spicy salmon. By itself, I'm a fan of salmon, tuna, yellowtail, and eel. Now I'm hungry for sushi.

I vote for another trashcan plaza. Or better yet, spinning trashcan plaza! Its innovative AND very Cedar Fair!

Back to the reviews of the Flying Dog brews. This time it was the Classic Pale Ale, a beer I've had before and vaguely remember enjoying. Very nice pale ale, with a bit of alcohol and a nice citrusy flavor Another funky label

Elissa and my top 3 is the same. I think I deserve some sort of award for that If I DID impregnate her, there's like a 100% chance that KidTums would vote the same way in 9 years.

Much easier to do than I originally thought, all done for another year...well with the wood portion anyway. The Steel poll is going to be the hard part!

The time of year I dread the most, adding in all the new coasters I rode and finally ranking them up against everything else I've ever done. Good thing the season is over and I have nothing to do on Saturday!

2006 turned out to be the most insane coaster season I've ever had. The goal this season was to see if I could go with visiting a park and riding a coaster every week (at least once every 7 consecutive days) for the entire season. The season started out earlier than expected, with trips to WDW and San Francisco in mid-March, and continued up thru the last weekend in October. Some stats from this year: Current coaster count: 644 # of new coasters ridden for me: 128 # of new for 2006 coasters ridden: 17 Park visits: 95 Different parks visited: 71 New to me parks: 34 Park visited the most: Magic Kingdom/Dorney Park (tie, 4 visits each) Wood coaster ridden the most: Balder (Liseberg) Steel coaster ridden the most: Goliath (SFOG) Stand-out memorable experiences: Spring: Riding Expedition Everest before its official opening; Pyramid Brewing with Wally; Spring Fling at SFOG; Myrtle Beach with Tommy and James; meeting Nicole ; formation of BACT; Holiwood Nights and Voyage Summer: TPR UK trip (too many memories!); credit whoring across Ohio and Indiana with Heath and Kim (with a stop at 3 Floyds); Niagara Falls and meeting the parents; TPR party and finding out about KidTums; Labor Day SoCal trip, specifically Pizza Port Solana Beach and the JimmyBo Experience; Adam's Bachelor Party weekend and NOT getting drunk no matter how much we drank; Adam and Ellen's wedding Fall: Phantasialand; Oktoberfest and passing out after 3.5 liters; taking Nicole to PPP and seeing a whole bunch of friends from the UK trip; TPR Real World Orlando weekend; Todd's wedding weekend and a visit to Jolly Pumpkin. In all, its been a freaking awesome season, and I can't wait to see what next year brings!

"30/30-150"- Stone Sour

Hey! I didn't vote for myself, I didn't even vote, though if I did, it would probably be for "other" as I believe it to have happened accidentally when Elissa sat down on one of the many fine coasters at SFMM. You KNOW how clean those seats are! I would never impregnate Elissa, I need that child support money for beer, electronics, and coaster trips.

^^Yup, you know it. La Roja Grand Reserve had a really oaky aroma, and a strong alcohol taste, that of whiskey, but mixed with the sweetness of the beer, with a sort of cherry and pineapple hint. But the alcohol did overpower them in the end. There are several other beers that are aged in oak barrels, like the Old Heathen from Weyerbacher, called Heresy once aged. The oak barrel aged stuff is a whole different level of beer, and quite worth it if you find any. Yup, its Halloween, which means the perfect time for pumpkin brews. Adam's Flying Dog's will just have to hold off a bit longer. (and BTW, Ellen's hair is getting LONG! Soon she can go topless) Defintely more alcohol in this bad boy. yum! Next up, DFHs Punkin, also quite tasty Lots of pumpkin spice and very pumpkin pie-like First up on this fine all hallow's eve, Pumpkinhead