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Nice reports everyone. Derek and Heath, glad to see you guys had another beer adventure this weekend. As for me, no pictures but after several days of resting my stomach and liver, I had the following: For Thanksgiving it was a Stone IPA, Bell's Two Hearted (excellent IPA! very solid) and a Purple Haze. On Saturday we went to the Willimantic Brewing Company while visiting my sister-in-law. There I had a very good Pushing The Envelope IPA and a Rail Mail Rye (my favorite there). I picked up a growler of it to try at CCL next weekend. Finally, tonight Ellen and I made our way back to Egan & Son's in Montclair. They had bottles of Blue Point's Hoptical Illusion which I thought was an appropriate name (may have had the illusion of hops but I found it very weak) and one of their own Watertown Wheat beers (which I enjoy). Looking forward to Hershey, Troegs and ABC next weekend!

I figured I'd piggy back Derek's awesome photos with some of my own. Not sure how far I'll get but I'll start with our trip to Union Jack's. I leave you with one last shot of the Mephastopholis goodness. This beer knocks you on your ass. Good thing Heath and I split the 12 oz. bottle. Tom tends to go with the Belgians which usually is a good choice. This Urthel Flamy Dark Ale was damn tasty. Is this an illusion or the real thing? Leann takes a sip of the powerful stout. Don't believe she liked it though. Not even the sad Pope on Heath's Rye Bock bottle can stop his enjoyment of Mephastophalis. Derek is loopy over his Flying Dog Dogtoberfest. I made a great choice splitting the expensive Mephastophalis Imperial Stout with Heath. This stuff is AMAZINGLY good! Best beer of the weekend and one of the best brews I ever had! Ellen's third beer is the Legacy Midnight Wit. This one was excellent! I love the bottle art too. Derek is happy with his Atomonium. Love the glass! Ellen goes with what Tom had. She's a huge fan of Franziskaner and they do make a quality product. Finally! I try the Mad River Jamaica W.IPA. I thought this was about average for an IPA. The service was pretty slow at Union Jack's and I'm sad to have an empty glass for too long. Even the Hop Devil tattoo enjoys Hoptimus Prime! Tom and Leann represent the international flavor of BACT as Leann drinks a Lindenmann's on tap and Tom has the Franziskaner Dunkel-Weisse. The Stone Brothers are loving their Hoptimus! Ellen goes with the Sly Fox Raspberry Reserve. We were both disappointed in this one. American micro-brews have a tough time with fruit beers. Much to the disappointment of fellow BACT'ers, I skip the Hoptimus Prime and go for a Middle Ages Anniversary Double Wheat. Very hoppy for a wheat. Not a bad thing! Their tap list is nice but their bottle bible is very impressive. Most of opted for some draught selections to start. On Saturday we gathered at Tom's place and off we went to Union Jack's. I swear, this place seemed so far away from Allentown...are we in Delaware or something? Work has been very rough lately so I was very excited for the weekend. Tickets in hand! Here's the flyer for the long awaited annual trip to Split Rock for their Classic American Beer Festival!

Derek, you're crazy! My stomach is still recovering from Beer Fest weekend so no new beers to post about. We'll probably be bringing some brews we picked up last weekend to Thanksgiving dinner at my parents' house. Whatever we bring, it'll probably be the first beer since the Fest. Hmmm...maybe we should bring something STRONG!! We'll need it. By the way, loved the PTR on Fest weekend. I hope to add some photos of my own to it soon.

Last week I was taking a beervintory and noticed that I was fresh out of IPA's. Time to remedy that... Ellen really likes it too. We have ourselves a hit. The Root Beer was aweful but this was great! Wish we had more. Gotta say, I actually really enjoyed this one. What's amazing is that you can really taste all three flavors- honey, ginger and a touch of lemon zest. I also discovered we had three of the four Sam Adams Brewer Patriot collection left to try. Here we have the Traditional Ginger Honey Ale. Never fear...Stone IPA is here! Happy again! Here's my "no IPA" face. Lots of great beer but not an IPA to be found (aside from the Weyerbacher Eleven I discovered later).

Damn, Heath, you beat me to the post. I actually cracked open my Weyerbacher Eleven last week and pretty much agree with everything you said and have the hop face to prove it. Check out my report... All in all, I liked Eleven but didn't love it. It was hops all the way, with a bitter grapefruit taste and a nice bite of alchohol but that's about it. Like Heath, this doesn't happen often. Crazy hop overload for sure!! Ellen took the first sip and was shocked by the hops. Holy Hop Face, Batman!! Great color and a perfect head! This one had been sitting in the fridge for a few months so it was finally time to open it up.

Ok, I'm a few days off but here's the continuation of my Wedding/Honeymoon series of photos. Here we go... A look at the Big River "coaster". Not a credit. That's it for Disney. Next up...Universal and Savannah. Ellen has the Wowzer's Wheat. I love the glass for this one. Back at the Boardwalk, we finally get to the Big River Brewing Company. Here I try the Red Rocket Red (I think that was the name), which was better than I expected. I tried the Trois Pistoles and I have to say, it was a fine brew! La Cellier Steakhouse in Epcot kicked ass. Amazing food and an excellent beer selection including these from Unibroue out of Montreal. It wouldn't be a stop in Germany without a visit with Soren. He's one heck of a nice guy! Probst!! While the rest of the crew enjoys the real Oktoberfest, I have a bit of my own with a Spaten Optimator and a cool German hat! Aaahhh!! Germany!! At night at the World Showcase, Ellen gets her mits on a Grey Goose Slushie in France. Look out!

This is long overdue but better late than never. I now begin my wedding/honeymoon beer thread series. These are a bunch of photos taken at either my wedding or honeymoon of the beer, wine or mixed drink that Ellen and I or anyone else associated with the wedding drank. Enjoy! And I enjoy my second Kronenbourg 1664. This concludes part one. More tomorrow! At Chefs de France, the first of two amazing dinners at Epcot, Ellen loves her specialty drink which I believe was a champagne laced with raspberries or something like that. Yup, you got it. I tried the Casa Lager Beer which turned out to be my favorite new brew of the World Showcase! Back at the World Showcase, I was presented this difficult choice in Morocco. What to choose? At California Grille, I sip on some Anchor Steam from San Francisco. Props to Disney for keeping with the theme. Wish they had some Stone stuff though! I also had a Sierra Nevada. In Norway that night, I went with a Carlsburg and a sweet almond pretzel for dessert. I love World Showcase! For dinner, at Spoodles on the Boardwalk, Ellen enjoys a wine. Probably some sort of Pino Grigio. Here I am with my dork bag, all sad that we're a bit too early for the Epcot Beer & Wine Festival. Feeding some sort of totem pole in Canada with my beer. In Canada, I couldn't pass up a Moosehead. Not the best in the World but not bad. I always enjoy a Moosehead. Ellen gets in on the beer action too with a Kronenbourg. We both really enjoyed this beer. It took a day or two but I finally have my first honeymoon beer- a Kronenbourg 1664 in France at the Epcot World Showcase along with an amazing lunch! I LOVE this glass! On to the honeymoon in Walt Disney World and here I am with a non-beer drink, a Pina Colada at Ohana. Tom is double fisting it and Derek, the beer thread king, finally gets his drink on. The beautiful bride enjoys some white wine as Tom waits his turn for a photo. At the reception, in our bridal suite, I couldn't wait to have a Sam Adams Boston Lager!

Matt posting to the beer thread! You made a photo appearance once but never posted that I'm aware. Welcome to the club my friend. A few more posts and we'll induct you into BACT. Any way, try a Franziskaner Hefeweizen. It's Ellen's fave and a really excellent wheat. Never had the Dunkel. Tonight I'm drinking a Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin Ale. This one ranks just behind Shipyard Pumpkin Ale for favorite pumpkin brew. It's heavy with slightly more alcohol but loaded with spices and pumpkin flavor. No photo to post though. Welcome aboard. Hope to see ya on here more often!!

With the Eastern PA BACT'ers taking some local brewery/brewpub visits this weekend, I decided to rally the troops (all four of us) of the Clifton, NJ chapter and try out the most local brewpub I can find on Sunday night. I remembered reading in the Mid-Atlantic Brew News about a unique brewpub in Montclair called Egan & Sons (just 5 miles away) that "sort of" brews their own beer. Essentially, they complete the brewing process and are shipped the first stage. What also interested me was their Irish food menu. Overall, I'd say the experience was a good one. The place has a great vibe, the food was good and the beer was better than expected. Check out some photos... I KNOW Mark and Amanda will be back as Mark proclaimed this "the best corned beef and cabbage he ever had!". Mark enjoys another Pale Ale while Ellen was denied a Franziskaner Hefeweizen so went with the Hoegaarden instead. Next up for me was the Oddfellows Pale Ale. It was pretty average with a decent hop bite. I would definitely get this again though. After a day of house hunting, Mark and Amanda are REALLY enjoying their beers. Mark went with the Oddfellows Pale Ale and Amanda went with the Hoegaarden. I also opt for the Cranetown Wheat. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. It had many of the wheat beer qualities with a candy-like higher alcohol presence. Ellen goes with the Cranetown Wheat. Extremely dark for the style. Mark artistically displays the menu. Here's a blurry shot of the menu. They have a decent selection of guest beers too although not great. Here's an outside shot of the brewpub. It was dark so I couldn't get much.

Great PTR, Derek, Heath and Kim! Looks like you guys had a lot of fun. Also glad you finally tried the Adam beer from Hair of the Dog. I have to say, my bottle image owns!! Tonight, Ellen and I got together with Mark and Amanda to check out a place with a good vibe located in Montclair. It's called Egan and Sons and it's a unique "micro-brew" where they only complete half the process of brewing beer (thus, not having the large tanks). The food is Irish style and I think the atmosphere is great. For a Sunday night, they had a good sized crowd too. I'll have photos up tomorrow from this place. Later!

Congrats on the tat, dude. You've officially become a crazy beer junkie. Coasters? What coasters? Seriously though, that's a pretty cool tattoo. No tats for me though. I'm too chicken.

It's funny you mention that because the timing was dead on. Pretty much the party was over and we were all tired. After a stirring rendition of November Rain by Heath, the next song up was Sweet Child O' Mine. Heath insisted in an encore and just as was ready to blurt out his first lyric, everything went black. The timing couldn't have been more perfect.

October 28, 2006 was a very important date. Todd Long finally took the plunge, Tom Smith celebrated a birthday, and the Smiths threw one hell of a Halloween party. Since Ellen and I were unfortunately not able to make the Long wedding, we headed out to Allentown for Tom's soon-to-be-famous Halloween party. Here are some photos from that very fun event! Ooooo...spooky!!! Time for bed for everyone. Luckily, Leann has lots of candles in the house and Ellen has some fun in the dark. Ellen continues to rock out but moments later, as Heath prepares to sing one last GnR tune, the power goes out...in the entire neighborhood! It's late and things start to wind down in Tom's basement. Between singing the f*ck out of GnR tunes and playing the Sam guitar, Heath truly knows how to party! Even little Anthony caught the karaoke buzz. LOVE! Future contributor to the TPR beer thread. Awww...Heath and Kim sing a duet. Randal grabs the mic...everyone cover their ears! Everyone is getting involved in the karaoke scene now. Ellen and Kim rock the house. What was I thinking? Smile if you're drunk and happy! The neighbors join in on the karaoke action. It's like 11pm, time for more meat! Leann with her super cute cousin Anthony. It doesn't take long for Ellen and Tom to grab the mic. Everyone is liquored up so the party moves the other side of the basement for some karaoke. The party stayed contained to the bar for a good part of the day. Mr. and Mrs. Smith in their biker costumes. Tom, that look is totally you! Now here's a rare shot- Kim drinking a beer!! Kim comes in third as Leann drops out completely. Tammy came out on top but Ellen was a close second. Only the ladies tackled this one. Drop the shot in the pint and drink down! Tom sets up some sort of Dr.Pepper drink that combines beer with an Amaretto shot. Leann is rockin as a biker chic. Check out those tats! Tammy brought jello-shots and Ellen displays how it's done. Any good party in Allentown is required to have lots of meat. Check out that ring bologna. Yumm! I stuck mainly with bottles. I believe this was an Indica IPA. Heath is loving the Troegenator on tap! Ellen starts early with the high alcohol Victory Golden Monkey. Crazy Jake had the freakiest costume at the party. Look what he did to his hair! This photo almost got Tom kicked out of BACT! On tap for this party- Victory Prima Pils and Troegs Troegenator! There weren't a lot of costumes at this year's party but I did a fairly easy one- Randal from Clerks II. Every article of clothes (besides the jeans and sneakers) came from View Askew.com.

Since Heath and I posted our opposite reviews of Brooklyn Brewery's Post Road Pumpkin Ale, there's been some questioning on whether or not Heath may have gotten a bad batch. I loved it and Heath didn't like it much at all. This past weekend we exchanged bottles to complete a side by side comparison. Did Heath have a bad batch or was I just happy to be drinking beer again after my pneumonia? Well, see for yourself... Ellen didn't care for it at all so she went with a much better Pumpkin brew- Dogfish Head Punkin Ale. Now she's happy! Eh, Heath was right. Not a very good one, indeed. Must have been the pneumonia. I still drank a full pint by combining the two. Don't want to waste it. Ellen can't tell the difference besides a very slight more spiciness with ours but essentially the same. How about mine!? Hmmm...don't know. Doesn't seem to be a big difference. Here's my lame attempt at a Heath face with his. Hmmm...not like I remember mine to be. This one does taste a bit hoppy and not very pumpkiny. Next up, our bottle. Ellen stepped in as an impartial judge. Here she gets ready to sample Heath's. J.J. Bitting glasses would represent Heath and Pumpkinhead would represent mine. Here are the contenders. Heath's bottle has the H on the cap, mine has nothing.

On Sunday, October 29th, I closed out my 2006 coaster season with one final trip to Dorney Park (second trip of the year) with my wife Ellen and TPR/BACT members Heath and Kim Rhoads, Leann Smith and later Derek Ruth. It was an extremely windy day so the day started with all of the coasters closed but soon Steel Force, Laser and Thunderhawk would open and finally the B&M's and the Mouse about 2 hours or so before closing as the winds died down a bit. Ellen and I took one ride each on each coaster except the Mouse and we also did a couple flat rides and a haunted house. Overall, a fun but very blustery day to close out the 2006 season. Here are a few photos. Enjoy! Hydra is testing and soon to open for the final couple hours of park operation. Talon would open at the same time and we would end our season there. Derek arrives, fresh from Todd's wedding in Michigan and shows off his latest signature move. Slimer in all his glory! We believe the snot flew off on Steel Force. Poor sap that sat behind him must be suffering greatly right now. Everyone is trying to run away from "Slimer", this dude who had a huge snot hanging from his nose and seemed to follow us around the park. The ladies of BACT from above. With most coasters closed, we actually had to wait for Thunderhawk. Bah! Huh???? It was so windy at Dorney that it blew train #2 off the track. This is all that remains. Just kidding. Halloweekends at Dorney is pretty lame but this is their best attraction, Scream Works. That's not saying much. Leann, Kim and Heath try to stay warm on the Zephyr. Ellen is super excited about her ride on the coffin-on-wheels- the Zephyr train! This simply supports the rumor that a Hercules train jumped the track and landed in a graveyard, thus its removal and replacement. Since every coaster is closed, we have to make our own fun and play with the leaves. This is good to know. First stop in 2007! :/ Leann and Ellen try to ride the wind up the hilly terrain of Dorney Park. "Hi, I'm Talon, and I'm closed today due to high winds. The guy at the toll booth said the wind would make me go faster and that's why I can't run!".

[quote name="Rugged One^^ Glad you and Ellen enjoyed the ABC' date=' Adam. Did you ever get to try the Major Hops? That's one of my favorites they brew there. [/quote] I actually don't remember seeing Major Hops. If I did, I definitely would have gotten it. Come to think of it, I didn't even see it in their master beer list. Did I miss something?

Following our great evening at HersheyPark with Heath and Kim, Ellen and I decided to check out ABC for the first time in Harrisburg on Sunday. This place really surprised me. Great beer and good food! We'll definitely be back. The last photo is of Ellen's lunch- a great salad with craisins, apples, blue cheese, grilled chicken, nuts and a ginger vinigarette. Once again, the beer and its description card. My beer tasting was not done. This time it was the Hoppy Trails IPA. This one was excellent with a great hop flavor that was very complex and different from the first sip to last. One more shot of the brewpub. A random shot of Ellen. She really was having a good time despite her expression. The brewpub has some decent merch with mostly t-shirts and glasses. Ellen and I both picked up a t-shirt. Here's a shot of the restaurant. My appetizer was this ale and cheddar cheese soup. The concept was good but the soup itself was fair. It had the consistency of rice pudding. I didn't know Ellen snapped this shot as I went to check out Brew-Opoly....which I bought!! Once again, the beer and its description. I started off with the Kipona Fest. This one was a little darker than the typical Oktoberfest beer with a bit more alcohol. I LOVED it! Here's a shot of the beer and its description card. June specialty? I can't imagine it lasted that long. Ellen opted for the Hinterland Hefe Weizen as she was surprised to still see it on tap. She really enjoyed this one. ABC is located in a semi-depressed industrial area of town. Typical brewpub atmosphere.

Ignore this one. For some reason my reply got posted twice and I couldn't delete the second one.

Ellen and I were out visiting my sister-in-law (wow, that's weird!) this past weekend and we had dinner at one of my favorite brewpubs- Willimantic Brewing Company/ Main Street Cafe in CT. I decided to sample two of their four IPA's (I kid you not!). The first one was V.E.G. IPA which had a nice hop flavor but not very complex. The second was called II IPA which was just what the name implied- a double IPA. At about 9% alcohol, this one tried to be a Dogfish Head 90 Minute but fell just a bit short. It was certainly more complex in flavor and the high alcohol content gave it the sweetness I enjoy. Definitely better than the VEG. Sadly, they hadn't tapped the Rail Mail Rye which I so love from there but the IPA's were a nice choice and the first I've had since getting back on the beer. No photos yet again. I promise a few from my honeymoon very soon.

I was hoping you would have tried the Hair of the Dog "Adam" beer, Derek. I need to get a bottle of myself for myself. Any way, I broke my beer dry spell last night (finally!) with a Brooklyn Brewery Post Road Pumpkin Ale. This one was VERY good. Quite possibly my 2nd favorite pumpkin ale after Shipyard. It was darker and had some nice pumpkin pie spices in it like nutmeg. The after taste wasn't quite as good as Shipyard's which I believe sets it apart. No pictures to share though.

Damn, have I been asbsent from this thread or what?? Getting married, going on a honeymoon and then coming down with pneumonia will do that. Well, it's been like 2 weeks since my last beer since I'm taking medication that doesn't allow me to drink alcohol. But, no sense crying. I hope to be back this weekend with a beer or two. During the honeymoon I drank plenty of beer, mostly at Epcot and at the Boardwalk and CityWalk. In Savannah, we tried out Moon River which was fair at best. I did manage to score a Sweetwater 420 which I absolutely love. I'll have some pics up in the coming weeks including a run-in with TPR's own, Soren. Aside from that, I picked up a bottle of Dogfish Head Chateua Jiahu and a 6-pack of Brooklyn Brewery's Post Road Pumpkin Ale at my local beer heaven last night. New to the liquor store was some beers from Great Divide including Hercules Double IPA. It was extremely expensive for a 4-pack but I believe its a highly ranked IPA. Has anyone had it? Is it worth picking up? I figured I'd consult BACT before making that decision. Hoping to be back soon...

That was a great PTR, Derek. Nice job accurately portraying the weekend and the bachelor party festivities. Great captions too! That "pregnant" photo of me though...GOOD GOD!! I have to do something about that...like, maybe another beer? By the way, a few comments and clarifications. I agree about Heartland's Apricot. Simply amazing and easily the best apricot beer out there. It really tasted like apricots. Krazy City is actually not a reopened version of Jeepers. Jeepers was located on the upper level and its Python Pit coaster overlooked the food court from above. Jeepers is now closed and sadly the only establishment open in that wing now on the upper floor is Dave & Busters and a skating rink. Every other entertainment venue closed down. Krazy City recently opened on the 3rd floor and they purchased Python Pit from Jeepers, enclosed it in a glass box, added black lit props and re-themed the trains. I never rode it in its Python Pit incarnation but I think this new version is very neat. Standard Mack kiddie coaster but the atmosphere is cool. The ride op actually encouraged me to "duck" when we got to the top of the lift due to some structure and mechanical equipment up there. I'll post some of my own photos of this ride in the theme parks forum sometime soon. Any way, thanks for coming out for my bachelor party. May not have been the swinging stripper-laden type party most guys are used to but it was very much "us". An afternoon of amusements and a night of beer!

This next one was the last of the four I recently got from Heath. So far, 3 of 3. How would this measure up? See, all smiles and my fiance, just because she hasn't been on here for a while. HOLY HOPS!!! This sucker is BITTER!! Sweet! Easily the hoppiest amber I ever had. And yes, I loved it. This is my hop face, not a bad thing. Great color! Lake Placid Frostbite Ale. Didn't really know what to expect other than it's an amber and I like ambers.

I'm starting to worry about Derek and Heath. This might be the longest they've gone since posting on this thread! What happened guys? Any way, I myself am back from the dead and figured I'd start with this one from a business trip to St.Louis- dedicated to our very own mcjaco! Before that, at Bahama Breeze for dinner, I tried an usual A-B offering called Aruba Red. The waitress ecstatically plugged it because it was "very good, just like Killian's!". Wowweee!! I'm sold. Wasn't great but was good for an A-B product. But here's what really kicked ass... Simply incredible! Now I know what the fuss is about. Easily a Top 10 brew. Great flavors such as hazelnut, caramel and mocha in this one. Damn, what a complex brew! My co-worker and I stopped at a Max & Erma's for lunch before flying home. Much to my surprise, they had New Belgium Flat Tire on tap!!

Here I am with my weekly update, skipping around a bit and jumping to our Boston trip last weekend. I still owe the thread a few photos from the Tom's block party but I'll get to that another day. Here are photos taken from fellow enthusiast Matt Bacoulis' restaurant in Upton, MA. Turns out he has a pretty darn good beer selection. I started off with a Sam Adams Hefeweizen (no photo) and these... Ellen LOVES her Martini! Matt whips up one of the 3 citrus themed martinis that Ellen drank this night. They have a very impressive Martini menu. Yet another Harpoon, this time the IPA. This is not one of the better IPA's out there but it's an IPA and I have to take advantage when there's one available. Harpoon is big in the Boston area and I never had this one before. Hibernation Irish Style Red Ale, not a bad version of the style.